When Harrah’s Tunica Hotel & Casino in Tunica Resorts, Mississippi closed on June 2, few were surprised. Opened in 1996 as the Grand Casino, the property’s 136,000 square foot gaming floor was the largest between New Jersey and Las Vegas. But competition and the recession sent it on a downward spiral and Caesars Entertainment, with a debt of .6 billion, no longer could justify keeping Harrah’s Tunica open.
In addition to the casino, the 2,200-acre campus included more than 1,200 hotel rooms in three buildings, a golf course, shooting range, RV park and a kids arcade. A 24-hour bus system linked Harrah’s with Caesars’ two other Tunica County casinos, which will remain open: –the Tunica Roadhouse Casino and the Horseshoe Casino and Hotel, which is undergoing a $10 million renovation.
In the first full year of operation after Harrah’s opened, Tunica County casinos took in $776 million and reached a peak in 2006 with revenue of $1.2 billion. But by 2013 the casinos’ take was down to $700 million. Tax revenue for the county dropped from $47.3 million in 2006 to $28.3 million in 2013.
Casino employment in the county peaked at 13,000 in 2001. Today the total is about 6,000, counting the 1,000 jobs lost by Harrah’s closing.
pocketbooks began to bite
Caesars regional President R. Scott Barber said, “We feel bad about the ultimate outcome, but it’s a good business decision for the long-term future of the company.” He noted Caesars has been trying to sell Harrah’s for three years with no nibbles. As a result he said it’s possible a buyer may purchase only the casino and hotel tower on the Mississippi River side of the levee.
Competition has sprung up in Oklahoma Missouri, whose residents used to travel to Tunica to gamble. In recent years, competition has emerged closer to home, as Southland Park Gaming and Racing in West Memphis, Arkansas has attracted traditional Tunica players. The racino won $142 million from gamblers last year, more than an average Tunica casino. The recession also has resulted in a two-thirds drop in casino visitors since 2007. The bottom line is of the eight casinos remaining in Tunica County, three have been seized by lenders and are for sale: Resorts Tunica Casino, Bally’s Casino Tunica and the Fitz Casino & Hotel.
Harrah’s closing will hurt the area in numerous ways. It had the largest convention facility in the market. The Tunica Convention & Visitors Bureau will have less marketing and advertising dollars. And local government will have less revenue to maintain the extensive infrastructure it built when gambling brought in significant revenue.
Webster Franklin of the Tunica Convention & Visitors Bureau said Tunica County needs to diversify its tourism offerings, such as a water park, family entertainment center or museum. “We have one industry. We need help to develop it,” Franklin said.
Gold Strike General Manager Niklas Rytterstrom noted, “Tunica, as a market, I don’t know if we’ve seen the bottom.”
