Harrah's
Unloads Gulfport Casino
Harrah's Entertainment reduced
its losses in the hurricane-ravaged Mississippi
Gulf Coast, agreeing on Tuesday to sell what's
left of the Grand Casino Gulfport to owners
of another destroyed casino.
In
announcing the deal, Harrah's said it would
concentrate on rebuilding the Grand Casino Biloxi,
which was also destroyed by Hurricane Katrina
on Aug. 29. The massive storm damaged or demolished
13 casinos in the Mississippi communities of
Biloxi, Gulfport, and Bay St. Louis, wiping
out 17,000 jobs.
Harrah's
didn't disclose a sales price for the remaining
Grand Casino Gulfport assets and the 14-acre
site to Gulfside Casino Partnership, which owned
and operated the Copa Casino. However, the agreement
calls for all assets to be sold in "as
is" condition and Harrah's will retain
all insurance proceeds.
Before
Katrina hit, the Grand Casino included 1,000
hotel rooms. One of casino's two barges was
washed across Highway 90 and imploded by the
Mississippi Department of Transportation to
reopen the road. The main casino, which had
102,000 square feet of gaming space, was damaged
beyond repair.
The
Copa Casino, which was demolished by construction
crews following the hurricane, didn't operate
a hotel and lost its 41,000-square-foot casino
barge in the storm.
The
transaction, which is expected to close by March,
allows the Copa owners to dominate the Gulfport
casino market.
"By
selling these assets to our neighbors in Gulfport,
we will give the owners of the Copa Casino site
the additional space they need to develop an
ambitious project of their own," said Anthony
Sanfilippo, president of Harrah's Central Division.
Harrah's
had planned to renovate the Grand Casino Biloxi
into a Horseshoe brand casino before the storm.
The Biloxi site had a 134,000-square-foot floating
casino and 975 hotel rooms.
The
company is expected to rebuild the casino portion
over land now that Mississippi's new gaming
regulations allow casinos to move on shore.
The company did not a disclose a rebuilding
timetable.
Three
of the destroyed Biloxi casinos are expected
to reopen by next week, with the Imperial Palace
opening Thursday.
In
November, the state's gaming revenues declined
38.1 percent from the prior year because of
the closed Gulf Coast properties. Casino in
Mississippi River towns of Tunica and Vicksburg
earned $134.8 million from gamblers, compared
with $217.9 million a year ago.
|