The three Mississippi Gaming Commission members recently decided to stick with the requirement that a casino developer own the property all the way to the Mississippi River or Gulf of Mexico. The rule change would have opened areas along Coast beaches for casino development where it previously was prohibited. A state law from 1992 requires casinos to be built on river or coastal sites. However, after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the Coast casino industry in 2005, the law was altered to allow coastal casinos to move a short distance onto land, but only on sites still touching the water.
The commissioners referred all questions to Gaming Commission Director Allen Godfrey. He said, “The commissioners will not go down this road, or have chosen to leave the regulation as it stands.” They did leave open the possibility that the change could be considered again in the future.
Clay Chandler, a spokesman for Governor Phil Bryant, said, “As he has made clear before, Governor Bryant strongly opposes any regulatory or statutory changes that would expand gaming in Mississippi.”
The rules change also was opposed by the Mississippi Gaming and Hospitality Association, Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann and legislative leaders including House Gaming Committee Chairman Richard Bennett. Hosemann said the change “would virtually eliminate $10 million a year in tideland leases except those already in force.” Tideland payments are used to build piers, parks and other waterfront projects across South Mississippi.
Bennett, in a letter to the Gaming Commission, suggested waiting until the legislature meets in January to review the changes.
“Gaming operators in the state have relied upon the accurate and reasonable interpretation of MCA 97-33-1 for many years, and to unreasonably depart from that long held interpretation and render the contiguous language meaningless would harm the members of the industry who have been subject to the contiguous requirement and damage the trust of the industry moving forward.”
He added elected representatives should be the ones to clarify the law “before a serious departure to the rules is enacted and irreparable harm might be done to the reputation of the Mississippi gaming industry, laws, regulations and commission.”
Bennett also noted, “If there is anything Mississippi has done right, it is gaming. We have the strictest laws, no corruption and have always had clear interpretation of the law. The public was sold on this on the basis that casinos would be limited to certain areas, and we owe it to the citizens to stick to that.”
However, Gaming Commission Chairman Al Hopkins and new commissioners Jerry Griffith Sr. and Tomas Gresham stated the changes would bring casino regulations in line with the law that allowed casinos to come ashore following Katrina.
A public comment period is now in effect.
