Resorts Casino Tunica, formerly Southern Belle Casino and Harrah's Tunica Mardi Gras Casino, was a 201-room
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 ...
and 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 enterta ...
located in Tunica Resorts, Mississippi. It was one of three casinos located in the "Casino Strip" area, along with
Sam's Town
''Sam's Town'' is the second studio album by American rock band the Killers. It was released on September 27, 2006, by Island Records. Regarding the album, frontman Brandon Flowers noted that he "wanted to create an album that captured, chro ...
Penn National Gaming
Penn Entertainment, Inc., formerly Penn National Gaming, is an American entertainment company and operator of integrated entertainment, sports content, and casino gaming. It operates 43 properties in 20 states, online sports betting in 14 jurisdi ...
.
The resort closed in June 2019 due to declining revenue.
History
Southern Belle Casino (1994-1995)
The casino was developed by Belle Casinos, a company that owned the
Biloxi Belle
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 ...
casino on the
Mississippi Gulf Coast
The Mississippi Gulf Coast, also known as Mississippi Coast, Mississippi Gulf Coast region, Coastal Mississippi, and The Coast, is the area of Mississippi along the Mississippi Sound at the northern extreme of the Gulf of Mexico.
Geography
At t ...
and was owned primarily by restaurateur Jim Hasslocher. Construction was budgeted for $30 million, but ran up to $67 million. The Southern Belle Casino opened for a two-day test run on February 19, 1994, and then opened permanently on February 24. It was designed to resemble a Southern mansion, and had facilities including of gaming space, three restaurants, and a 1,500-seat event venue, the River Bend Event Center.
The Southern Belle closed on August 31, 1994, as its owners stated that the Tunica market had become overly saturated, with ten casinos in operation. Belle Casinos filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...
on the same day. They initially planned to move the Southern Belle casino boat to the Biloxi Belle site, but that property closed in January 1995, and they began seeking a buyer for the Southern Belle instead. In July 1995, the property was bought out of bankruptcy for $34 million by a partnership between
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 g ...
and
Belz Enterprises
Belz Enterprises, Inc. is a major American-based developer of hotels, retail, and commercial properties, including shopping malls.
Belz owns and operates the Peabody Hotel in Memphis. Previously they operated two other Peabody Hotels, one in Littl ...
, which owned a Harrah's casino about a block away.
Harrah's Tunica Mardi Gras Casino (1996-2004)
Harrah's spent $49 million to add a 200-room hotel and renovate the casino with a
Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras (, ) refers to events of the Carnival celebration, beginning on or after the Christian feasts of the Epiphany (Three Kings Day) and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday, which is known as Shrove Tuesday. is French for "F ...
. The casino reopened on April 8, 1996 as Harrah's Tunica Mardi Gras Casino. The hotel opened two months later. Harrah's continued to operate two casinos in the area for some time, and bought out Belz's stake in the properties in April 1997. A month later, it closed the original Harrah's Tunica to concentrate on the Mardi Gras casino.
Resorts Casino (2005-2019)
In 2004, Harrah's agreed to buy
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 Corporat ...
. The combined company would have controlled five of Tunica Resorts' nine casinos: Harrah's, Grand Casino,
Horseshoe Casino
Binion's Gambling Hall & Hotel, formerly Binion's Horseshoe, is a casino on Fremont Street along the Fremont Street Experience mall in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned by TLC Casino Enterprises. The casino is named for its founder, Be ...
, Sheraton Casino and Hotel and Bally's Casino. Because of possible anti-competitive domination of the Tunica market, Harrah's agreed to sell the property, along with Bally's, 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 ...
, who then created Resorts International Holdings to own and operate the casinos (including Bally's Tunica). The casino was renamed Resorts Casino Tunica in 2005.
On November 9, 2011, Foundation Gaming Group of
Gulfport, Mississippi
Gulfport is the second-largest city in Mississippi after the state capital, Jackson. Along with Biloxi, Gulfport is the co-county seat of Harrison County and the larger of the two principal cities of the Gulfport-Biloxi, Mississippi Metropolit ...
assumed the management of Resorts Casino and Hotel along with Bally's Casino Tunica. In 2013, management responsibility changed.
In May 2017, Resorts and Bally's Tunica were sold in a joint deal, with Gaming & Leisure Properties acquiring their real estate assets for a total of $83 million, and Penn National purchasing the operating assets for a total of $44 million.
Penn National announced in April 2019 that Resorts Tunica would close on June 30 because of declining revenues, which were attributed to the expansion of casino gaming in Arkansas. In the summer of 2021, both the hotel and casino were demolished. All that is left of this resort is a grassed field.
Dining
Resorts Casino Tunica featured three dining venues:
* 61 Grille Steakhouse
* EATs
* Delta Blues Buffet
Entertainment
The casino featured a casino stage bar featuring live entertainment on Fridays and Saturdays. Resorts Casino was adjacent to River Bend Links
golf course
A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". The ...