Coast casinos hitting the jackpot

By MARY PEREZ
meperez@sunherald.com

AMANDA McCOY/SUN HERALD

September was another record-setting month for Coast casinos. Figures released Thursday by the Mississippi State Tax Commission show gross gaming revenues rose to $111.7 million in September.

• October state gambling gross revenues

BILOXI --

Figures released Thursday by the Mississippi State Tax Commission show gross gaming revenues rose to $111.7 million in September. The next best September was last year, when Coast casinos grossed $109.6 million. The numbers show four of the last five months set record highs on the Coast.

"They do look strong and impressive," said Larry Gregory, executive director of the Mississippi Gaming Commission, after reviewing the statistics. He doesn't use the term "record-setting" anymore but said, "I really believe this is a trend in this particular market and all the signs are pointing north."

While revenues rose $3.2 million at Coast casinos, they slipped $3 million in the Mississippi River counties during September. The state total remained almost the same at $239 million for the month.

Gregory sees the Tunica area as a "very consistent market," making gains of 1 to 2 percent over the last year with another casino opening in Greenville this month.

He said, "It's very competitive throughout this country now," in the casino industry, and small yet steady growth in Tunica is in big contrast to the double-digit losses casinos have seen in Atlantic City, N.J.

Gregory said the Coast casinos are continuing to grow and focus on added amenities. IP Casino Resort and Grand Biloxi are adding new restaurants, and Treasure Bay Casino will soon open its restaurant and the remainder of its hotel rooms. With Margaritaville Casino under construction, Bacaran Bay close to breaking ground and other Coast casinos proposed or moving through the approval process, developers continue to look at the Coast, and Gregory said, "I think they see a market geared up for growth."

To see such strong numbers "makes me feel great," said Mark Seymour, who goes before the D'Iberville Planning Commission and City Council in the next few weeks with a proposal to build Royal D'Iberville Casino. He is the first to get approvals to build a casino in D'Iberville and said, "I think there's going to be some others" who want to join that casino market. "The ones that are coming in are bigger than the ones that have come before," Seymour said, and that should attract more big-name casinos to the Coast.

Total state casino revenue now stands at $2.2 billion for the first nine months, or an average of $249 million. That makes the goal of $3 billion in total revenue for 2007 a bit of a stretch but make topping the previous record of almost $2.8 billion likely.