More gaming action in Gulfport
Workers are putting the finishing touches this week on an expansion at Island View Casino Resort in Gulfport.
“By Thursday, everything will be checked,” said Rick Carter, one of the owners of Island View. “We’ve been working with the Gaming Commission for the last 45 days. We’re taking plenty of time to make sure it’s done right.”
Set to open on Monday is a 50,000-square-foot addition that will double the number of slots and triple the number of table games at the 520,000-square-foot property.
“We’ll have about 2,100 slots and an area with high-limit table games and high-limit slots,” Carter said. “We’ve had gamblers coming from Texas, Georgia, Alabama and Florida. To borrow a phrase from Emeril (Lagasse). ‘We had to kick it up a notch.’ ”
Coast properties have seen a resurgence since Hurricane Katrina shut down operations in August 2005. Properties along the Coast have brought in about $335 million in gaming revenue, more than $150 million more than the same period in 2006.
Island View is the only casino in Gulfport of the 10 casinos on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The expansion comes as the the Hard Rock in Biloxi prepares to open this summer, bringing the total to 11.
Gulf Coast natives Carter and Terry Green, founders of Gulfport’s Copa Casino, which was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, own the land-based resort. They purchased the property from Harrah’s Entertainment, which once operated Grand Casino on the site.
Island View Casino Resort opened in September with 30,000 square feet of gaming space, 562 hotel rooms and a 350-seat buffet.
Gaming square footage will increase to 80,000, slots will grow from 1,033 to 2,100, and table games from 15 to 47, he said.
The expansion will boost the number of employees from slightly less than 1,500 to 1,800, he said.
Also opening on Monday is a 24-hour grill called C & G Grille and a bar called The View Bar.
Emeril’s Gulf Coast Fish House fine dining restaurant is scheduled to open in mid-June. It will be a sister restaurant to Emeril’s New Orleans Fish House in Las Vegas.
Jerry St. Pe, chairman of the Mississippi Gaming Commission, said first-class gaming venues such as Island View attract first-class amenities such as Emeril’s. “Emeril would not have participated otherwise,” he said.
Carter said business has been good. “So far we’ve exceeded the projections we’ve told our bankers,” he said.
A third phase of construction could include another hotel, marina and retail shops, he said. It would take at least 15-18 months before the third phase of construction would be ready to open, he said.
“We plan to submit plans to the Port Authority of Gulfport next week,” he said. Island View leases property from the Port Authority.
The hotel on the property that is south of U.S. 90 has been gutted and could be ready to occupy before 18 months, he said, depending on recommendations of a consultant for the project. “The hotel has 400 rooms, and we’re looking to change it to an all-suites hotel,” he said.