Harrah's Gulf Coast is 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

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 ...

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 ...

, owned by

Vici Properties Vici Properties Inc. is a real estate investment trust (REIT) specializing in casino properties, based in New York City. It was formed in 2017 as a spin-off from Caesars Entertainment Corporation as part of its bankruptcy reorganization. It own ...

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 ...

. This facility replaces the former Grand Casino Biloxi, which was destroyed 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 ...

. At the time, the casino offered a casino, two hotels with 975 rooms, and a

convention center A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...

. Currently, the casino features around 800

slot machine A slot machine (American English), fruit machine (British English) or poker machine (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. Slot machines are also known pejoratively a ...

s and 35 table games.

History

Prior to 2005, this casino was a

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 ...

and

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 ...

property. After the ownership change to

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 ...

it was announced that this casino was being converted to the Horseshoe brand. But these plans were put on hold when Biloxi and the

Gulf Coast The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Texas, Louisiana, Mississ ...

were hit by Hurricane Katrina. The storm destroyed the barge on which the casino floor was located; 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 ...

swept the barge from the shoreline all the way across Beach Boulevard, nearly inward. On May 21, 2006, demolition crews imploded the beach-side hotel structure, leaving Harrah's with a clean slate for rebuilding. After Katrina, the company announced that they will be re-opening the facility during Summer 2006, with a casino, a spa, and other amenities, but the facilities south of Highway 90 would take several years to complete. On August 17, 2006, the first phase of the rebuilding opened with a 495-room hotel and a new land-based casino. The long-term plan for this property had been to construct what Harrah's (now renamed back to Caesars) called "a destination resort." Part of the expansion plans revolved around Caesars' purchase of the that comprised the neighboring Casino Magic property. In May 2007, Harrah's announced the Margaritaville Casino and Resort would be built on the site. However, construction of that expansion ceased in 2008 due to economic concerns, and in January 2011, Caesars officials announced the termination of the agreement with Jimmy Buffett and his Margaritaville brand. A new Margaritaville Casino and Restaurant, not affiliated with Caesars Entertainment, was to be constructed at a different location in Biloxi. In October 2017, ownership of the property was transferred to Vici Properties as part of a

corporate spin-off A corporate spin-off, also known as a spin-out, or starburst or hive-off, is a type of corporate action where a company "splits off" a section as a separate business or creates a second incarnation, even if the first is still active. Characte ...

, and it was leased back to Caesars Entertainment.

References

External links

* {{coord, 30.393015, -88.865866, display=t, type:landmark Buildings and structures in Biloxi, Mississippi Casinos in Mississippi Hotels in Mississippi Caesars Entertainment Tourist attractions in Harrison County, Mississippi

History

See also

References

External links