Today, we celebrate the 30th anniversary of legal casino gambling in Mississippi. From 1992 to 2022, the impact of the gaming industry impacts jobs, tourism, taxes, schools, and local charities.
Making a winning bet on Mississippi’s economy, employment, and way of life. On August 1st, 1992, the first casino, Isle of Capri, opened as a riverboat casino in Biloxi.
However, getting state legislation to pass the now billion-dollar gaming industry into law was a tough bet. Lifelong Biloxi resident Vincent Creel said, “Some of these legislators, there was no way they could go back home and say I voted for gambling.”
M2 Media Group Owner Michael Sunderman said, “When the idea of bringing in legalized dock-side gaming came in, there was a lot of push back.”
In 1990, the legislature passed dock-side gaming laws, allowing casinos to operate in the Mississippi Sound on offshore floating barges, but still coastal counties voted against it. Gulfport Mayor Billy Hewes said, “Referendum had failed in Harrison County, failed in Jackson County, passed in Hancock County. They came back and passed it in Harrison County after the initial legislation. So, there was a lot of give and take, push and shove.”