Bright Spot on Gulf as Casinos Rush to Rebuild

Anyone visiting this town in the days after Hurricane Katrina might reasonably have concluded that it would be a long while before slot machines were again ringing their incessant chimes. The storm destroyed 9 of 10 floating casinos in Biloxi, and the tenth suffered significant damage.

Yet so well financed is the gambling industry - and so profitable the facilities that line the beaches here - that one casino is set to open its doors to the public on Dec. 22. Another is to reopen the day after Christmas. A third, the Palace Casino, will have spent $23 million in four months to reopen by New Year's Eve, said the general manager, Keith Crosby.

All 10 Biloxi casinos have told the city they will rebuild, and most plan larger, more elaborate facilities. One, Harrah's Entertainment Inc., the world's largest gambling company, has told city officials that it plans to invest as much as $1 billion in a new resort-casino - a figure sizable enough to catch people's attention even in Las Vegas. And a growing list of investors, looking to take advantage of a new state law allowing the first-ever land-based casinos, is seeking an audience with city officials or state regulators in Jackson.

For better or worse, casinos are the source of that rarest commodity along a Gulf Coast battered by Katrina: optimism. "Legalized gaming," said Biloxi's mayor, A. J. Holloway, "is going to be what saves us."




http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/14/business/14casino.html?hp&ex=1134622800&en=7efbd1247f51f70a&ei=5094&partner=homepage

speak English, or even have a green card?

What in the world are you talking about? Casino jobs down here in Biloxi/Gulfport were some of the best paying jobs..

Dealers working at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi were making what? like almost 20$ an hour! Thats good money down here!
Any they all spoke English.

Your ignorance shows

--Steve

And what's stopping the casinos from hiring illegal aliens, er, "guest workers"?

History says that the jobs were good . . . but will history repeat itself, or will it bow to the bottom line now?

That's my point . . . not that the wages were horrible before, but will the wages be good now?

Wages will probably be better now..
There's a massive labor shortage on the cost


Burger King and McDonalds are paying 8.75 an hour with a 1200$ signing bonus, because they are having trouble finding employees!

--Steve

Casino dealers make minimum wage, but the bulk of their pay comes from tips by gamblers. I worked in Grand Casino Gulfport as a dealer during college and the average hourly tip rate was between $15-$20 an hour, plus the hourly wage of $5.35. Dealers do okay, roughly $40,000 a year. It can go higher at the nicer places. People I knew who dealt at the Beau Rivage made up to $60k - $70k a year.

He could probably handle the problems there better than the US govt.