Harrah's Casino Tunica, formerly Grand Casino Tunica, was a

casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

and

resort A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that aims to provide most of a vacationer's needs. This includes food, drink, swimming, accommodation, sports, entertainment and shopping, on the premises. A hotel ...

located in

Tunica Resorts, Mississippi Tunica Resorts,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 was closed permanently on June 2, 2014 and was demolished in August 2015. , the three hotel buildings remained standing, but have not operated since the resort's closure in 2014. The golf course and events center were also abandoned. Caesars rented out one hotel and its parking lot to an auction company to have live auctions 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 pu ...

, 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 Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. It lies on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast in southern Mississippi, bordering the city of Gulfport, Mississippi, Gulfport to its west. The adjacent cities ar ...

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 Worldwide. The original company was founded by Conrad Hi ...

, 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, United States. 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 g ...

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 unit of Warner Bros. Discovery, who manages and operates it as a division of the Warner Bros. Discovery U.S. Networks Group. The channel airs both televi ...

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 with her sons, Jamie and Bobby Deen. She has pu ...

. 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 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, 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, 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.

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 in Mississippi 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 Defunct casino hotels In Mississippi