Passengers on about 300 boats cheered and blew their whistles as they recently watched Lady Luck Casino boat sink in the Atlantic Ocean off Pompano Beach, Florida. Tom DiGiorgio, chairman of the Economic Development Council of Pompano Beach, said the sunken casino will be one of the most accessible major dive sites in the U.S. and attract more than 35,000 divers annually. “It’s going to help the hotels, the restaurants and the ancillary effect is going to ripple out for years to come,” DiGiorgio said.
The city searched for a decade for the perfect casino boat to sink, DiGiorgio sated. The 324-foot Lady Luck, built in 1967, was towed from New York to Florida earlier this year. It includes 16 staterooms, a captain’s deck and an interactive art exhibit that will display locally produced underwater artwork–such as poker-playing octopuses, fake slot machine, three larger-than-life shark statues and a life-sized mermaid. “There are lots of ships that are sunk, but this will be the only one that is truly interactive and with artwork on it,” DiGiorgio said
The sunken ship also could become a major contributor to Florida’s artificial reef system, allowing for new coral growth by minimizing damage created by divers and marine life.
Dennis MacDonald created the artwork on the vessel. He said his wife and five others worked on it for about two months. “As the ship was stripped, I took valves and springs to fashion the slot machines. It was kind of a nice rebirth and reutilization of general parts of the ship,” he said.
Financing for the wreck was split between the city of Pompano Beach and Pompano Beach Isle Casino, said Shipwreck Park Chairman Greg Harrison. He noted the attraction will be free for certified divers with their own boats.
