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Mississippi Casinos’ Confidence Not Dampened By Revenue Decline

Posted on May 10th, 2010

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The Mississippi Casino Operators Association reported that gambling revenues in Mississippi in 2009 was $2.46 billion, lower than in 2007 and in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina devastated the state.

The Gulf Coast’s 2009 gambling revenue, the report said, dropped 14 percent from 2007. But executives of Mississippi casinos seemed hopeful of a brighter future for the industry as they gathered in a joint gambling convention of the Southern Gaming Summit and the Bingo World Conference and Expo at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum and Convention Center Wednesday and Thursday.

The convention was attended by representatives of some of the biggest gambling firms in Mississippi and in the country, in which more than a hundred exhibits and several informational sessions were featured. “The light at the end of the tunnel is actually a light at this point, and not an oncoming train,” Virginia McDowell, president of Isle of Capri Casinos Inc., told attendees during the first day of the convention.

McDowell and other speakers, however, are of the same opinion that the addition of new casinos would no longer be competitive. On the second day of the convention, a keynote speaker gave Mississippi some advice. Jan Jones, vice president of communications and government relations at Harrah’s Entertainment, told the gathering that the Mississippi Gulf Coast, in order to realize its full potential, must work at transforming its image into a vacation destination, and not only as a place for gamblers on day trips.

Jones said the move calls for establishing a government agency that would advertise and market the area across the country. The agency would require a budget, which could entail additional taxes. “I was amazed when I drove in last night. Not only at the entertainment, how pretty it is, how nice the people are, how beautiful the coast is. I woke up this morning, I opened the windows, and I’m looking at massive oceanfront,” Jones told the attendees.”I think you have a lot of natural elements and benefits and amenities that just aren’t promoted to the level that they should be, mostly because there’s not a marketing fund, a designated marketing fund,” she said. The casino executives all acknowledged Mississippi’s unwavering support for the gambling industry even and especially through the tough economic times.