Harrah's Casino Tunica, formerly Grand Casino Tunica, 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 ...

and

resort A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that tries to provide most of a vacationer's wants, such as food, drink, swimming, lodging, sports, entertainment, and shopping, on the premises. The term ''resort ...

located in

Tunica Resorts, Mississippi Tunica Resorts, formerly known as Robinsonville until 2005,

. It was owned and operated by

Caesars Entertainment Caesars Entertainment, Inc., formerly Eldorado Resorts, Inc., is an American hotel and casino entertainment company founded and based in Reno, Nevada that operates more than 50 properties. Eldorado Resorts acquired Caesars Entertainment Corpora ...

. The casino offered a casino and three hotels with a total of 1,356 rooms. There was also an

RV park A recreational vehicle park (RV park) or caravan park is a place where people with recreational vehicles can stay overnight, or longer, in allotted spaces known as "sites" or "campsites". They are also referred to as campgrounds, though a true ...

, the Bellissimo Spa & Salon, a convention center, The Willows sporting clays shotgun club, and a 2,500 seat entertainment venue called the Harrah's Event Center. Citing steadily declining business rates in its last few years, Caesars announced the closure of Harrah's Casino Tunica, along with its hotels, golf course, and events center in March 2014. The casino permanently closed on June 2, 2014 and was demolished in August 2015. , the three hotel buildings remain standing, but have not operated since the resort's closure in 2014. The golf course and events center have also been abandoned. Caesar's has rented out one hotel and its parking lot to an auction company for them to have live auctions in the lot for farm equipment and other large items. In 2021 a plan was announced to redevelop the property.

History

Grand Casino Tunica (1996-2007)

The casino itself was built in 1996. It was the largest casino between Las Vegas and Atlantic City, featuring a large poker room. The Harrah's Casino Hotel was directly connected to the casino and contained 148 rooms and 40 suites. Two additional hotels were situated along a lake approximately ½ mile away. Complimentary shuttle service ran 24 hours a day to take guests to and from the casino. The Veranda Resort Hotel, which opened in 1996 along with the casino, contained 532 rooms and 36 suites. The largest hotel was the Terrace Hotel & Spa, which opened in 1999 and contained 563 rooms and 37 suites. Grand Casino Tunica's original owner was

Grand Casinos Grand Casinos () was a casino operator, co-founded by poker player Lyle Berman and Dave Anderson, Founder of Famous Dave's BBQ Restaurants, that started out managing several casinos in Minnesota in 1990. The company ceased to exist when it was pur ...

, Inc., headed by

Lyle Berman Lyle Arnold Berman (born August 6, 1941, in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is an American professional poker player and business executive. Business Berman grew up in Minnesota and attended the University of Minnesota where he was graduated in 1964 wi ...

, a pioneer in developing resort-style casinos on Native American reservations and in Mississippi. In 1998, Berman and Grand Casinos, Inc., sold their Tunica, and

Biloxi, Mississippi Biloxi ( ; ) is a city in and one of two county seats of Harrison County, Mississippi, United States (the other being the adjacent city of Gulfport). The 2010 United States Census recorded the population as 44,054 and in 2019 the estimated popu ...

resorts to the gaming division of

Hilton Hotels Hilton Hotels & Resorts (formerly known as Hilton Hotels) is a global brand of full-service hotels and resorts and the flagship brand of American multinational hospitality company Hilton. The original company was founded by Conrad Hilton. As ...

, with the combined assets being spun off to create a new corporation called

Park Place Entertainment Park Place Entertainment, later named Caesars Entertainment, Inc., was a casino company based in Paradise, Nevada. For a time it was the largest casino operator in the world. It was formed in 1998 as a corporate spin-off of the gaming division of ...

(later renamed Caesars Entertainment). In 2005, Caesars Entertainment was acquired by

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 ...

, which converted back to the Caesars Entertainment name in 2010. In the Tunica market, Caesars also operates

Horseshoe Casino Tunica Horseshoe Casino Tunica is a casino resort located in Tunica Resorts, Mississippi. It was developed by Jack Binion, the son of Las Vegas gaming legend Benny Binion, and named after his father's famous Binion's Horseshoe downtown gambling hall. Muc ...

and Tunica Roadhouse Casino & Hotel (formerly Sheraton). The three properties share management and player marketing operations.

Harrah's Casino Tunica (2007-2014)

In October 2007, Harrah's officials announced that Grand Casino Tunica would undergo a $45 million renovation of its hotels and casinos, which included the resort being renamed Harrah's Casino Tunica. In addition, the company announced that the new Harrah's would feature a new buffet bearing the name of

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...

celebrity chef

Paula Deen Paula Ann Hiers Deen (born January 19, 1947) is an American chef, cookbook author, and TV personality. Deen resides in Savannah, Georgia, where she owns and operates The Lady & Sons restaurant and Paula Deen's Creek House with her sons, Jamie a ...

. Paula Deen's Buffet was reported to be the first celebrity chef-branded buffet at an American casino. It was rebranded in 2013 shortly after she was removed from the food network. A

Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill is a Chain store, restaurant chain inspired by the country music singer Toby Keith and founded by Boomtown Entertainment. The bar is named after Keith's 2003 single "I Love This Bar", which was taken from his ...

owned by Scottsdale, Arizona-based Capri Restaurant Group Enterprises LLC opened in Harrah's in September 2010, replacing the former Replays bar and grill and Murano's Italian Restaurant.

Previous Harrah's Casinos in Tunica

This is the third casino in Tunica Resorts to bear the name Harrah's. The previous Harrah's Tunica was designed by Steelman Partners. The first was located just off Casino Strip Blvd., several miles south of the former Grand, and was the first casino to open in that area in 1993. In 1996, Harrah's acquired the shuttered

Southern Belle Casino Resorts Casino Tunica, formerly Southern Belle Casino and Harrah's Tunica Mardi Gras Casino, was a 201-room hotel and a casino located in Tunica Resorts, Mississippi. It was one of three casinos located in the "Casino Strip" area, along with Sa ...

, approximately 500 yards (450 m) away from the first Harrah's. The company operated both casinos as Harrah's for a short time, calling the second property "Harrah's Mardi Gras." Eventually, Harrah's sold the original property to

Isle of Capri Casinos Isle of Capri Casinos, Inc. was a gaming company headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri in Greater St. Louis which operated casinos and associated entertainment and lodging facilities in the United States. It operated 15 casinos in seven states ...

, who operated it as "Isle of Capri Tunica" for a short time before closing it. With the sale of Caesars to Harrah's in 2004, the combined companies were forced to sell two properties to avoid owning five of the nine casinos in the Tunica market. Harrah's Mardi Gras was sold, along with

Bally's Casino Tunica 1st Jackpot Casino Tunica (formerly Bally's) is a casino and former hotel in Tunica Resorts, Mississippi. It is owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties and operated by Penn Entertainment. The casino has of gaming space, with 899 slot machines and 1 ...

, to

Colony Capital DigitalBridge Group, Inc. is a global digital infrastructure investment firm. The company owns, invests in and operates businesses such as cell towers, data centers, fiber, small cells, and edge infrastructure. Headquartered in Boca Raton, Digita ...

, and Harrah's Mardi Gras was renamed

Resorts Casino Tunica Resorts Casino Tunica, formerly Southern Belle Casino and Harrah's Tunica Mardi Gras Casino, was a 201-room hotel and a casino located in Tunica Resorts, Mississippi. It was one of three casinos located in the "Casino Strip" area, along with Sa ...

References

External links

Harrah's Online Casino Website
{{coord, 34.855613, -90.294544, display=t, type:landmark Casinos completed in 1996 Hotel buildings completed in 1996 Hotels in Mississippi Harrah's Entertainment Defunct riverboat casinos Defunct casinos in the United States Casinos in Tunica County, Mississippi 1996 establishments in Mississippi 2014 disestablishments in Mississippi Demolished buildings and structures in Mississippi Buildings and structures demolished in 2015