Tunica/Katrina
 

What's happening in Tunica with all the Katrina refugees? Are the casinos there overloaded with guest/players, or is the effect not that big?

Re: Tunica/Katrina
 

i haven't been down there....but I know that in one of the hurricanes last year (Ivan perhaps?? or Dennis??) I was talking with a couple of employees who told me that the hotels there were mostly sold-out and they were asking their dealers to put in overtime because they knew it would be much busier than normal.

So it woudln't surprise me at all if it was really busy in Tunica.
(there have also been a couple of Memphis TV news-stories about 'Hurricane refugees escape to the Mid-South' or something like that but I didn't pay attention to the stories).


Supposed to storm up here on Monday night and/or Tuesday.
Not too badly of course....but whatever is left of it is on its way.

I guess the worst parts of it should swerve east of here....but we are forecast for a half-inch to an inch of rain tonight last I checked.

Re: Tunica/Katrina
 

My boss went this weekend and said all the check-in lines were huge on Sunday.

Re: Tunica/Katrina
 

I read somewhere that the Gulf Coast casinos are all closed, and some of them are now flooded.....

Re: Tunica/Katrina
 

well...they closed up all the casinos last night before it arrived.
those things are right there on the gulf and it would have been crazy to keep them open when so much of the area is evacuating.

I've played blackjack at the Copa in Gulfport and if the water is rocky you can definitely feel it.


Just to make sure you understand what we're talking about here geographically (some people don't know where Tunica is of course):

Tunica is near Memphis and is about 6 hours north of New Orleans. So many of those who evacuated the gulf came up to this area. And quite a few of those just decided to play for 3 or 4 straight days at the Tunica casinos.
Hurricane evacuations = BAD for the gulf....but it's good business for the Tunica region.


The latest forecast up here is that we are getting 2 inches of rain tonight with 35-45 mph winds.
So travel in this area will be a bit annoying.

Re: Tunica/Katrina
 

What's the deal with Biloxi casinos? Are they all "riverboats" that are actually permantely docked? Is this how they are in Tunica as well?

Re: Tunica/Katrina
 

In Tunica, the casinos are technically on a barge (I think that's the term). But you could be there and never notice that there is water anywhere around - they are just like regular casino/hotel buildings. The Gold Strike there is a 30 story hotel for example.

Re: Tunica/Katrina
 

"By midday, the brunt of the storm had moved beyond New Orleans to Mississippi's coast, home to the state's floating casinos, where Katrina washed sailboats onto a coastal four-lane highway. The Beau Rivage Hotel and Casino, one of the premier gambling spots in Biloxi, had water on the first floor, and the governor said other casinos were flooded as well." from St.Pete Times article http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...p;SECTION=HOME

I was planning on going up there this wknd, but doubt that is possible now with this mess. on another note, hope that people living and working in the area are safe..

Re: Tunica/Katrina
 

The Grand in Gulfport is RIGHT ON the ocean. I can't imagine it not getting some serious damage.

Re: Tunica/Katrina
 

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In Tunica, the casinos are technically on a barge (I think that's the term).

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I don't think this is correct. I beleive the law requires being on water in a general sense, not actually floating.

Re: Tunica/Katrina
 

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My boss went this weekend and said all the check-in lines were huge on Sunday.

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There are refugees all over Tunica, Memphis and Little Rock. We're talking about 500,000 Gulf Coasters who fled this storm.

It'll be years before the Gulf Coast recovers from this thing.

Re: Tunica/Katrina
 

I was a BJ dealer at one of the Tunica casinos for 8 months and am not really sure where or how it actually was touching the Mississippi River.

As for the Horseshoe and Gold Strike...I think that perhaps one brick of their property is actually touching the Mississippi.

It is correct that when you go there you will likely NEVER realize that there is any water ANYWHERE around.
You can see it if you have a hotel room on a higher floor at the Gold strike though.

Re: Tunica/Katrina
 

I believe they dig a trench. FLoat the barge in from the Mississippi and then fill in the trench. The barge is therefore on Miss river water.

Re: Tunica/Katrina
 

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I was planning on going up there this wknd, but doubt that is possible now with this mess.

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they MIGHT be open again by then.
not sure of the damage they took.
but there is also a pretty good chance that most of the roads to get in or out will still be blocked by flooding and fallen trees.

could easily take a couple weeks just to make it more easily travellable again. this was pretty much what happened in the Florida panhandle during Ivan.
One road in finally opened a week later...but others were still closed down.
My Dad and sister (who live in Destin, Fla. kind of near Pensacola) were stuck just hanging out in Texas waiting for the roads to be in good enough shape to return.


Anyway - I wouldn't bother with Biloxi just because it MIGHT be a real pain regardless.
You could try Tunica instead of course (depending on where you're coming from).

Re: Tunica/Katrina
 

[ QUOTE ]
I believe they dig a trench. FLoat the barge in from the Mississippi and then fill in the trench. The barge is therefore on Miss river water.

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This is correct. The barges can be "detached" from the main buildings on land and floated down the river, in theory at least - some of them have very seamless-looking construction and would require quite a bit of effort to detach from the land-based structures.

I'm not sure exactly how filled-in the trenches can be, but the barges definitely can be relocated down the river. Several of the original Tunica casinos at Mhoon Landing (President and Lady Luck IIRC) were moved downriver as well as the Tresure Bay, which is now on the Gulf.

Re: Tunica/Katrina
 

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I was planning on going up there this wknd, but doubt that is possible now with this mess.

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they MIGHT be open again by then.
not sure of the damage they took.

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The casinos might not have power by the weekend, let alone be repaired and open for business.

The entire town of Biloxi is a disaster area.

Re: Tunica/Katrina
 

yeah. this would be my guess as well..that casinos in Biloxi might not even have power yet by the weekend (I am assuming they already don't have power currently).

Even if/when they get power...they got some flooding issues inside the casinos to take care of as well. my guess is that the casinos will be closed for awhile.


As I mentioned before...depending on where you are coming from...there's always tunica (which is supposed to have better poker anyway).
Lots of people come to Tunica from the Carolinas and Alabama, etc.

Re: Tunica/Katrina
 

TV news-story out of Memphis says that many Memphis and Tunica hotels are sold-out with the evacuees.
Showed some people with portable TV's camping-out in their cars in the hotel parking lot because they couldn't get a room.

It was also announced that Mississippi gulf-coast residents should stay away for a week or more...otherwise they will be returning to a waste-land with no electricity or drinking water but with plenty of snakes and fire-ants.

I suspect that Tunica casinos will remain pretty busy for the next several days.
getting your own room might not be so easy though.

Re: Tunica/Katrina
 

[ QUOTE ]
In Tunica, the casinos are technically on a barge (I think that's the term). But you could be there and never notice that there is water anywhere around - they are just like regular casino/hotel buildings. The Gold Strike there is a 30 story hotel for example.

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The way I understand it is the gaming space is on a barge. Everything else can be where they want it.

Re: Tunica/Katrina
 

Go to Google maps, find the casinos in Tunica, and look at the satellite photos. They're NEAR the river, anyway.

I once drove completely around Sam's Town, so it's not connected to the river via waterway.

I think Fitzgeralds might be the only hotel from which you can SEE the river.

Re: Tunica/Katrina
 

[ QUOTE ]
I believe they dig a trench. FLoat the barge in from the Mississippi and then fill in the trench. The barge is therefore on Miss river water.

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This is correct. They are built on trenches.

CNN just did a feature story on the casinos. They are ruined. It will be a long time before they reopen. The state of Mississippi will lose over half a million in casino revenues a day.

I live an hour south of Tunica and we got some wind here. I would say a steady wind of 50 MPH. I am sure Tunica had about the same.

Re: Tunica/Katrina
 

Tunica is going to pick up a ton of business from the Gulf Coast devastation. Have you seen pics of Biloxi? Really sucks bad...Biloxi is my closet decent B&M option.

Re: Tunica/Katrina
 

Thread that might of interest Biloxi Casinos

Re: Tunica/Katrina
 

I've stayed at the Gold Strike twice (just a quick mid-week get-away thing).
We could see the Mississippi River from out hotel room both times.

In fact, on their web-site it says something about their rooms having a glorious view of the majestic Mississippi or something really silly like that.


FWIW - I believe you can drive completely around almost all of the Tunica casinos. Employee parking is often-times in the back for example.
But when you get to the back part you probably technically on that part they built that is on water.

It looks like a completely normal land-based casino on permanent land...but you actually ARE on water on each of these even though it doesn't feel like it at all.


For those who were planning on gambling in the Biloxi or gulfport areas...you may want to consider Vicksburg or Shreveport where the casinos may still be open (not sure...just some other options that may be closer than Tunica for some of you).


I suspect the casinos in Biloxi and Gulfport will be closed for several weeks. The cities have taken an extreme amount of damag eand the roads themselves will be inpassable for some time. After that they take on the task of repairing the casinos themselves.
Obviously Harrah's in New Orleans is probably in a similar situation.


Biloxi is supposed to host a WSOP circuit-event at end of Sept which I think is now extremely unlikely to happen.

Re: Tunica/Katrina
 

From Harrah's web site:

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To ensure the safety of team members and customers, Harrah's New Orleans, Grand Casino Biloxi and Grand Casino Gulfport are now closed. We will reopen as soon as it is safe. At this time, we anticipate Harrah's New Orleans will open no sooner than Friday, September 30, 2005. Our Grand Casino locations, however, are closed indefinitely.



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