A legislator persuades his peers to follow Nevada and New Jersey in legalizing gambling in Mississippi. Developers use their knowledge to construct gaming facilities that will attract visitors for the long haul. Executives with Las Vegas experience see the value in Mississippi and extend their brands into the state.
The inaugural group inducted into the Mississippi Gaming Hall of Fame on May 3, 2018, has been involved in almost every facet of growth of gambling in Mississippi. Their induction ceremony took place during a dinner at the Beau Rivage Casino & Resort, as a sort of climax of the Southern Gaming Summit.
W. Michael Sunderman, publisher of Mississippi/Louisiana Gaming News, unconsciously stitched together a narrative as he introduced the seven inductees: Lyle Berman, Bernard Goldstein, William S. Boyd, Tommy Gollott, Jack Binion, Rick Carter, and Terry Green.
A video announcement by Haley Barbour, the state’s governor from 2004 to 2012, set the scene. “Before gambling, we had tourist towns with no tourists,” he said. “Now it’s the main reason a lot of visitors come to our state.”
Added Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves, who was at the dinner: “I appreciate the impact each of you has had on my great state. Gambling is a piece of a broad tourism spectrum, and in our state, we see tourism as a critical ingredient to our economic success.”
Then the honorees, or their representatives, picked up their plaques and made short speeches. Here’s the storyline:
Tommy Gollott, a senator from Harrison County, led the charge in Jackson, the state capitol, writing the legislation that initially brought riverboat gambling to the state. House Bill 2, the Mississippi Gaming Control Act, was approved in the 1990 Special Legislative Session.
“I’m proud to have introduced the legislation that brought gaming to Mississippi,” said Gollott, 82, who is serving his 50th consecutive year as a state legislator. The casinos became legal in 1990 and the Isle of Capri was first to open in 1992.
Gollott had seen the demand for gambling in the state, thanks to Rick Carter Sr. and Terry Green, principals of Gulfside Casino Partnership. In 1988 the two owned the Pride of Mississippi, based in Gulfport; the ship took passengers into international waters where they could legally gamble. Their ship paved the way for domestic dockside gaming across the state – and throughout the country.
Later, after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the partners purchased the former Grand Casino Gulfport and in 2006 opened Island View Casino Resort. They continued to invest and expand and in 2015 opened the Beach Tower, a $58 million expansion. They will open a new $75 million casino expansion in June 2018.
Added Reeves: “They were two Mississippi boys done good.”
Bernard Goldstein, who pioneered riverboat gaming in Iowa, operated the Diamond Lady and Emerald Lady along the Mississippi River, beginning in 1992. It was one of the building blocks that created his Isle of Capri casinos company, named for a small island off the coast of Biloxi.
Meanwhile, Lyle Berman received approvals for the $70 million Grand Casino Jubilee in Gulfport and the $56.5 million Grand Casino in Biloxi. In 1995, Fortune magazine named Grand Casinos the fastest growing company in America. Under Berman’s leadership, the company grew from a three-person startup to an organization employing 20,000 people with a market capitalization of $1 billion.
Berman was among the first with a nationwide name to venture to Mississippi. For those who don’t know, Berman is a member of both the American Gaming Association Gaming Hall of Hall of Fame and Poker Hall of Fame. He would eventually go on to win three World Series of Poker individual event championship bracelets and helped create the World Poker Tour.
Las Vegas operators like Jack Binion and William S. Boyd also quickly came to town. Binion first set up the Horseshoe Casino in Bossier City, Louisiana, in 1994, by which time the number of casinos in Mississippi had swelled to 19. Later that year Boyd opened Sam’s Town in Tunica, 19 years after he and his father co-founded Boyd Gaming Corporation, opening the California Hotel and Casino in downtown Las Vegas.
Sunderman, Governor Barbour and others stressed that while the new gaming facilities were critical, equally important was the strict regulation, patterned after Nevada, that has kept Mississippi gambling free of major scandal. They also cited a low tax rate.
Said Binion: “Of all the states that passed gaming, Mississippi did it the best. The regulations were practical rather than political.”
A total of 28 casinos now operate throughout the state, generating annual revenues of about $2.8 billion. Sunderman noted that gaming in Mississippi has provided a total of $24 billion in tax revenue since it began. The industry survived Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the national recession that began 2008, and is still going strong, thanks to its early foundation, said Larry Gregory, executive director of the Mississippi Gaming & Hospitality Association.
“This event was a memorable walk through the history of gaming in our state,” he said. “Honestly, this was just a small amount of appreciation compared to the total investment made by the inductees in our state. We are forever grateful.”
Jack Binion receives is Mississippi Gaming Hall of Fame plaque from Larry Gregory, executive director of the Mississippi Gaming & Hospitality Association. Courtesy M2 Media
