Mississippi Land-Based Casino Plans Approved

As reported by the Biloxi Sun Herald: "The Mississippi Gaming Commission on Thursday approved site plans for what will be Gulfport's first land-based casino and granted time extensions to two other casino projects.

"Boomtown Casino and Bacaran Bay Casino, both in Biloxi, now have until Jan. 2 to proceed with their site plans. The commission also gave the Silver Slipper in Hancock County the go-ahead to issue stock.

"The requests were made by the casino companies because of issues related to Hurricane Katrina. The storm interrupted design planning and increased construction costs, and has made some building materials scarce.

"…Marlin Torguson, chief executive officer of Torguson Gaming Group, said he estimated that the cost to build Bacaran Bay has increased from $500 million to $560 million because of the hurricane. Discussions are going well with bankers, he said, noting that he could come back to the commission in April or May for permission to proceed with construction…"