Vicksburg Casino Set to Open Today
(As reported on Clarionledger.com)-VICKSBURG — Riverwalk Casino and Hotel is expected to open later today, creating almost 500 jobs and additional tax revenue for the riverfront community. “I plan on opening them up today at 5 p.m.,” said state Gaming Commissioner Larry Gregory, pending approval following a final walk-through of the property.
Finishing touches were being put on the $100 million, 120,000-square-foot Riverwalk Casino and Hotel on Monday afternoon. It will join the city’s handful of gaming parlors along the Mississippi River.
“We think we’ll help expand the (gaming) market,” said Rob Long, Riverwalk’s president and general manager. “This creates a cluster here. We’re half the size of Ameristar and (similar in size to) the Rainbow, but we think that’ll be a wonderful amount of activity.”
The casino was a flurry of activity on Monday. Large construction trucks were coming and going outside, while dealers practiced their skills inside the casino.
Inspectors and regulators were on site Monday to make sure everything was safe and ready to be used by the public.
The Riverwalk will solidify Vicksburg as a gaming hub and benefit the area’s restaurants, shops, parks and other attractions, said Christi Kilroy, executive director of the Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce.
“You’re going to have 500 more salaries in the community,” she said.
Manager Charles Richardson hopes some of that money will be spent at the Waffle House restaurant.
“It’s probably going to be a lot busier, (with gamblers) and people traveling,” he said.
But he added casinos have a good and bad influence on the restaurant’s performance, explaining that those that operate 24 hours a day have their own restaurants where people will eat while gambling.
Casinos that close at a certain time each night, Richardson said, tend to be more consistent sources for customers.
The city’s tax revenue from casinos has dropped by 1 percent since last year, but Vicksburg Mayor Laurence Leyens said Riverwalk can at least stabilize that figure.
“Here we have another industry coming in,” he said. “It’s going to be another feather in the cap of our economy.”
Leyens said about a quarter of the city’s sales tax revenue comes from casinos.
“We’ve been able to bring all our infrastructure up to speed,” Leyens said of gaming’s influence.
The Riverwalk, which will operate 24 hours a day, features a 25,000-square-foot gaming area with 805 slot machines and 18 gaming tables.
It also features a five-story, 80-room hotel, sit-down and buffet restaurants, and meeting spaces and conference rooms.
A parking garage nearing completion will be shared with the Rainbow, Long said. The casinos are owned by the same company.
Artwork from Mississippi and Southeastern artists is displayed on the ground floor.
The casino is the first Vicksburg gaming property built on land. Lawmakers allowed this change following the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast.
It also is easier for motorists to get to and is relatively simpler to build than a riverboat or barge casino, Long said.
Vicksburg resident Sherman Brewer Sr. eyed the Riverwalk before heading into the Rainbow midday Monday. He said he’s going to give the new casino a try once it opens.
“Everybody wants to take a look at that,” Brewer said. “It looks really nice.”
The city’s casinos have grown from being attractions mainly for locals to a key driver of Warren County’s economic fortunes, Kilroy said, even as the slumping economy has had some effect on the area’s overall tax base.
“We’ve had a few downsizings and a few closings,” she said. “But we’ve been fairly stable. Adding Riverwalk really adds to us becoming a major gaming destination.”
Ginny Tzotzolas, Riverwalk’s marketing director, said the property received inquiries from Texas to Rhode Island.
“We’ve had interest from all over,” she said, adding casinos often are most successful when there are a number of them operating near each other and can draw on each other’s customer bases.
Construction on Riverwalk began last June. Long said the only thing that threw the casino’s construction significantly off course was an extremely wet August, which made exterior or landscaping all but impossible.
“We had more rain that month than at any time in recorded history,” he said.
Tzotzolas said the casino wants to build ties with the Vicksburg area through more than just generating revenue.
She said Mississippi vendors were engaged for everything from the casino’s architectural and construction work to any printed materials associated with the facility.
November 7th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
We are planning a night in Vicksburg on Nov.30 and again on Dec.6. Usually we stay at Rainbow or Horizon but would like to try something new. I am a platinum Total Rewards member - what is your players’ club program? Can you offer me free overnight stays - or discounted rates? Thanks. I tend to gambol where I stay.
Betty Kirby 304-984-9825
January 9th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
There is no Total Reward program in Vicksburg. The closest is in Tunica Resorts, Biloxi, and Bossier City, LA (appx. 3 hours away either direction) Vicksburg has nothing on these mega boats!