Casinos outline plans for rebuilding to gaming commission
BILOXI, Miss. (AP) - Representatives for most of the state’s battered Gulf Coast casinos outlined their plans for rebuilding before the Mississippi Gaming Commission at its meeting on Thursday. Hurricane Katrina, which struck Aug. 29, damaged or destroyed most of the 12 coast casinos and a 13th that was about to open.
Like many of the casino representatives in attendance, Bernie Burkholder, the chief executive and president of Treasure Bay Casino, credited the new onshore gaming law for giving the industry a better chance of bouncing back after the storm. The law allows Gulf Coast casinos to move off the water and build a short distance inland.
“I, for one, was getting really tired of chasing my boat down after every storm, dragging it back to its moorings and gluing it back in place,” he said, prompting laughter from the crowd of about 200 that gathered for the meeting at the Imperial Palace, the least damaged of the Gulf casinos. Treasure Bay plans to build a two-story, 70,000-square foot structure on the south portion of its existing hotel tower, Burkholder said. Renovations will likely begin in February or March, and will take around six months, he said.
http://www.wpmi.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=B02D5341-0FAC-4A9F-8CA7-7A3F8A4787E8
