Margaritaville Casino and Resort
As of late, the attention given to the casino industry in the United States has tended to focus on gaming capitals such as Las Vegas and Atlantic City. However, evidence the impact of the recession on the US casino market can be found in states across the country. A recent article by ABC news about the proposed Margaritaville Casino and Resort in Biloxi, Mississippi, indicates how, over the space of juist a few years, the casino industry has dramatically changed.
In 2007, a new joint venture between Harrah’s Entertainment and singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett was announced. A casino resort, which would be themed around Buffett and named “Margaritaville” after the star’s 1977 smash hit, would open by spring 2010 in Biloxi. Since then, the casino industry has been ravaged by a global recession and it seems that the years of constant growth and new developments are a distant memory. In late 2008, after taking the project private, Harrah’s announced that they would “sideline” Margaritaville. Since then, the company has had to reassess its financial situation and has now announced that while it is “committed” to the project”, they “do not have a date for when construction will resume”.
Dennis Farewell, of Wells Fargo Securities, has suggested that Harrah’s managed to avoid serious financial problems by postponing the Biloxi casino project. Speaking to ABC, Farewell proposed that Harrah’s “walked the line of bankruptcy, but survived”. While Harrah’s has avoided further problems by temporarily pulling the plug on Margaritaville, residents in the area haven’t been as fortunate. It was believed Margaritaville would help revitalise Mississippi. Now, the state is contending with a coast ravaged by the recent BP oil spill and the fact that Buffett and Harrah’s won’t be bringing any tourists to Biloxi any time soon.
Vince Creel, a spokesperson for Biloxi, has suggested that Biloxi’s mayor “used to say as long as the construction cranes are there, there's still hope”. As Creel notes, such hope is now gone, after Harrah’s removed the cranes, which were costing them $30,000 a month to rent. For the people of Biloxi, at least, the classic image of the casino industry as forever investing and developing is nothing more than an unfounded rumour.
