Grand Casino Gulfport and Hurricane Katrina
Unfortunately, the Grand Casino Gulfport went bust on Wednesday 21st September 2005 due to irreparable damages caused by Hurrrice Katrina.
A 50-foot-tall section of the casino was brought down by three controlled explosions in rapid succession that was heaved onto U.S. 90 when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29.
More than half of the 13 casinos in Gulfport, Biloxi and Bay St. Louis were destroyed by the hurricane, literally displacing thousands of persons out of jobs and crippling the state’s $2.7 billion gambling industry.
The Grand Casino is owned by Las Vegas-based Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., which had at least two of its four other Mississippi casinos damaged by the storm.
Chairman Gary Loveman of Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., says Harrah’s will rebuild on the Gulf Coast, but the company has indicated interest in implementing laws that would allow gambling halls on land where they presumably be far less susceptible to future storms.
Harrah’s spokesman, Alberto Lopez, said that the company’s decision whether or not to return was reflected in “comments made by our CEO Gary Loveman that Harrah’s will return to the Gulf Coast bigger and better,” Lopez said. “But the state’s legislature has to revisit the current laws.”
