Gulf casinos prepare to reopen

Mississippi's 11 Gulf Coast casinos appear to have suffered only minimal damage from this week's pounding by Hurricane Georges.

"We came out better than we had a right to expect," said Chuck Patton, executive director of the Mississippi Gaming Commission.

But several of the resorts may not be able to re-open for another week to 10 days while crews work to restore power to the stricken communities.

Reports of damage range from uprooted trees and toppled signs to broken entrance ramps, shattered windows and water damage. While Mississippi casino hotels are built on land, their casinos are built on barges that are permanently connected to land. The barges are built to withstand 20-foot tidal surges and 150 mile-per-hour winds.

The only barge that broke its shore mooring was the Treasure Bay casino in Biloxi, which floated 40 feet into the Mississippi Sound. But Treasure Bay's hurricane moorings held, preventing the casino from floating away, said Patton.

Jaye Snyder, a spokeswoman for Grand Casinos, said the company's Gulfport casino suffered minimal damage and would reopen by the end of the week. Grand's Biloxi casino suffered more damage, as Georges ripped open a casino entrance.

"At Grand Casino Biloxi we had a little bit more damage, some water damage inside one of our hotels, and we expect to not be able to reopen ... until next week," said Snyder.

Tim Parrott, chairman and chief executive of Hollywood Park's Boomtown division, said the company's Biloxi casino could be open as early as Thursday.

But decisions to re-open are not entirely up to the casinos. The Mississippi Gaming Commission has to approve each re-opening on a casino-by-casino basis.

And Patton indicated only four would be ready for business by noon today -- Imperial Palace, President Riverboat Casino and the Palace Casino, all in Biloxi; and Casino Magic in Bay St. Louis.

Other casinos may be largely undamaged, but cannot re-open until power is restored, said Parrott. In some cases, that could take longer than a week.

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