Casino reopening marks a milestone

AP ^ | Wednesday, August 30, 2006 | Kathy Hanrahan

[WestTexasWend]

Biggest and grandest resort in Mississippi is back in business a year after devastation.

BILOXI, Miss. — Beau Rivage Resort and Casino, once the crown jewel of Mississippi's Gulf Coast gaming industry, reopened for business Tuesday on the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall.

Hundreds of the casino's 3,800 employees — 400 more than before Katrina — lined up along the front entrance for a reopening ceremony that included remarks by Gov. Haley Barbour, U.S. Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., and others.

Rogelio V. Solis ASSOCIATED PRESS

(enlarge photo) The area's slow progress in rebuilding affordable housing drew protests to the ceremony

MGM MIRAGE

(enlarge photo) Tuesday's reopening of the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Miss., drew applause from workers who had been without their casino jobs for a year after Hurricane Katrina.

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Barbour called the reopening "a milestone in the recovery of the coast and underscores an important message that Mississippi is again open for business."

"From the earliest days after Katrina, I said the private sector will determine the success of our efforts to build a Mississippi that is bigger and better than ever, and the tourism and entertainment sectors remain absolutely crucial elements of that goal."

Katrina's scars were still visible only blocks away. And across from the opening ceremony, a group of protesters decried the lack of progress being made in providing affordable housing for low- and middle-income families, as well as other lingering problems.

The $800 million Beau Rivage, owned by MGM Mirage, sustained extensive damage to its lobby but fared better than most of the other gambling houses along the Mississippi coast.

With 32 stories and 3.2 million square feet, it's the tallest and biggest building in the state.

The Beau Rivage is the seventh casino on the coast to reopen after the storm, and Mississippi's decision to allow onshore casinos, instead of requiring them to be anchored in the water, is attracting billions of dollars in investments. Three more coastal casinos are set to reopen by October.

Dominick Gaeta, assistant director for food and beverage at Beau Rivage, said the resort's reopening is a way of getting life back to normal.

"It's like almost rebuilding my life," said Gaeta, 41, of Chalmette, La.

Gaeta said he commuted about an hour to work for nearly eight years until his home was destroyed by Katrina. He has been living in a FEMA trailer in Marrero, La., but plans to get an apartment in Biloxi next month.

With some employees still living in FEMA trailers and a nearby customer base still suffering the economic effects of Katrina, the resort faces challenges in attracting tourists.

Mary Cracchiolo, the casino's director of public relations, said the resort is focusing on bringing back former customers and booking the hotel's meeting spaces.

The casino was built in 1999 by developer Steve Wynn. In 2000, Wynn sold his casinos to MGM Grand, which later became MGM Mirage.

Overall, the state's casinos earned $222.7 million statewide in July, down from $237.6 million in the same month last year. The state allows casinos only along the Gulf Coast and on the Mississippi River. The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians also runs two casinos in the east-central part of the state that are not regulated or taxed by the state.

[WestTexasWend]

MS ping

[cyborg]

I'm happy to see the folks bouncing back.

[WestTexasWend]

Sorry about the extraneous stuff...got sidetracked by the phone (third political fundraising call today) and hit post too soon.

[Gator101]

I expect to see the usual hoots and hollers from liberals saying stuff like "A casino! What about hospitals, what about homeless shelters...blah blah blah"

Of course in their emotional outbursts they overlook all the jobs that this casino creates.

[Paleo Conservative]

Casino reopening marks a millstone

[tx_eggman]

Gotta love Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour last night on Hannity & Colmes:

Well, let me just tell you, when you're struck by the worst natural disaster in American history, and they look back with 20/20 hindsight and think there could have been a perfect response, they just don't know what they're talking about.

The fact of the matter is, in Mississippi we've made tremendous progress. Every public school in Mississippi was open last fall before a single public school in Louisiana was opened. I'm very proud of the progress. But I can tell you what -- it's too slow. It hasn't been fast enough. There's got to be more, and we all realize that.

Look, I don't know enough about what's happened in Louisiana, but I do know this: We've got the same federal government Louisiana's got. And Texas has got the same federal government as Louisiana's got, and Alabama and Florida. If it's the federal government's problem, why didn't it happen in Mississippi, in Texas, in Alabama and Florida?

Our people did the best they could. We weren't looking for somebody to blame. Mississippians aren't into victimhood. We got hit by the worst natural disaster in American history, and we got flattened. Our people got right back and hitched up...

  =  

[Airwinger]

Gotta Love My Govna! but he's gonna make Mr. Nuget mad tho!

[SuziQ]

The area's slow progress in rebuilding affordable housing drew protests to the ceremony

Oh please! Vey little housing is being rebuilt right now, much less AFFORDABLE housing! When the bureaucrats get their acts together and let folks know what can be done, THEN you'll see some housing start back up. Have the towns let folks know if homes need to be raised off the ground, and by how much? That would be an important thing to know before someone started, say, an apartment complex!

[q_an_a]

MORE BOGUS NEWS!!! "the state's casinos earned $222.7 million statewide in July, down from $237.6 million." The data does not mention that the revenue was down but so was the number of casinos that are open. Of the casinos open their dollars are up 30%!! Guys and girls building and rebuilding are making money hand over fist and spending plenty on the days off.

[fatrat]

and the Hollywood Casino (formerly Casino Magic) in Bay St. Louis opens tomorrow. I will be checking out the new poker room there.

[mosquewatch.com]

We are proud of the work we did at the Beau, it is a beautiful place. A tribute to how the people of the Mississippi Gulf coast are not victims, but survivors.

I wake up every morning at 4:30 in the morning, wanting to go to work.

Jeff