A new casino could join Mississippi’s gambling scene if the Biloxi City Council approves next week a proposal for the development of a luxury gaming resort at the site of the city’s former Broadwater Beach Resort.
According to a city resolution, developer Broadwater Development LLP wants to invest $1.1 billion into its planned casino scheme.
The proposed resort would include a gaming floor, spa, golf course, full-service hotel, and other related amenities. The former Broadwater Beach Resort would also see on and off-site improvements in support of the development.
It also became known that the developer seeks to receive assistance for its project through the Mississippi Tourism Project Incentive Program.
The project can participate in the program as a hotel, indoor or outdoor entertainment center, marina, golf course with a minimum private investment of $10 million.
A portion of the sales tax the future resort would generate on what is currently empty land would be diverted as a tourism incentive to help cover at least some of the construction costs.
The resort would be the most expensive property of this kind to have ever been built in South Mississippi.
Thousands of New Jobs
The proposed $1.1 billion resort is expected to generate 2,557 full and part-time jobs when the property is fully operational.
The former Broadwater Beach Resort was originally built in 1939. Initially, it operated an illicit casino on a 600-foot pier as gambling was illegal at the time.
The licensed President Casino opened at the resort’s site in August 1992, shortly after the first legal casino in Mississippi was launched.
The once luxury casino resort has stood empty since Hurricane Katrina. The large site was purchased by Roy Anderson III and Cotton Fore shortly before the deadly hurricane hit the United States in late August 2005 to kill more than 1,800 people and leave millions of others along the Gulf Coast and New Orleans homeless.
Mr. Anderson is now listed as a partner with Broadwater Development. The company was registered with the Mississippi Secretary of State in early 2005.
The Biloxi City Council will be asked to review and approve a tourism rebate incentive for the project this coming Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Mississippi was one of the first states to start reopening its casinos after their closure in mid-March in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
Most of the state’s gambling venues resumed operations on May 21 after being given the go-ahead from the Mississippi Gaming Commission in mid-May. Others reopened on June 1.
The facilities have limited guest capacity to 50% and have been asking patrons to not enter if they have Covid-19 symptoms or have been in contact with Covid-19 patients or people with Covid-19 symptoms.
Casinos have also limited the number of players per gaming table and have spaced out slot machines to ensure that patrons will be able to practice social distancing.
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