The Copa Casino was a

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

located in Gulfport,

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

(

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

). Prior to its destruction in 2005 by

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

, it operated a small casino that catered to local residents. The casino was originally housed in a former cruise ship, the '' Pride of Galveston'', then later on a barge built to resemble an on-shore building, but which still floated on water to comply with

dockside gaming laws. The facility was located in a berth of the Mississippi State Docks.

History

In the late 1980s, William "Si" Redd, a renowned figure in the gaming industry known as the "king of slot machines," teamed up with two up-and-coming restaurateurs from the Gulf Coast named Terry Green and Joel “Rick” Carter to form a partnership named Carter-Green-Redd Inc., doing business as Pride Cruise Lines, Inc., to establish a casino that would operate on a floating platform off the coast of Mississippi in international waters, where gambling was legal. They bought a 40-year-old ship to be used as a gaming property. The ship was renamed ''Pride of Mississippi'' in 1988 and, after relocation to Texas, ''Pride of Galveston'' in 1991. In 1993 she was docked permanently in Gulfport, Mississippi and became the Copa Casino. When Copa Casino adopted a more permanent structure—a barge—the vessel was sold to be scrapped. As one of the two only casinos in Gulfport or Biloxi not to have an attached

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

(other than Boomtown Casino), the Copa catered to a locals market, featuring low-minimum

table game Table game may refer to: * Table game (casino), games of chance that are played against the casino and operated by one or more live dealers * Tables game, a class of board game that includes backgammon * Tabletop game, games that are normally play ...

s and relatively high paybacks on slot machines and

video poker Video poker is a casino game based on five-card draw poker. It is played on a computerized console similar in size to a slot machine. History Video poker first became commercially viable when it became economical to combine a television-like moni ...

. The

storm surge A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the n ...

from Katrina swept the barge onto the parking lot of the neighboring

Grand Casino Gulfport Grand Casino was a riverboat casino and hotel in Biloxi, Mississippi, United States. It was owned and operated by Harrah's Entertainment. Prior to its destruction by Hurricane Katrina, the casino had two hotels with a total of 1,000 rooms, and a ...

, with the barge coming to rest against the Grand's parking deck. In December 2005,

Harrah's Entertainment Harrah's Entertainment (later named Caesars Entertainment Corporation, previously The Promus Companies) was an American casino and hotel company founded in Reno, Nevada, and based in Paradise, Nevada, that operated over 50 properties and seven go ...

announced a deal to sell the former Grand site and remaining assets to the owners of the Copa. The Copa owners are using the new site for the new

Island View Casino The Island View Casino is a casino and hotel located in Gulfport, Mississippi. History The Island View is the successor to the Copa Casino, which was first located on a docked cruise ship and then a barge-based building at the Mississippi State ...

, which has opened a temporary land-based facility (now allowed after regulations were relaxed after Katrina) in the Grand's former hotel on the north side of Beach Boulevard. The new Phase I facility features the company's first hotel.

References

{{coord, 30.361826, -89.100151, display=title Defunct casinos in the United States Casinos in Mississippi Buildings and structures in Gulfport, Mississippi