Foundation Gaming Group of Gulfport announced it will buy DiamondJacks Casino in Vicksburg, Mississippi for an undisclosed amount. Foundation Chief Operations & Marketing Officer Les McMackin said, “We’re still formulating long-term plans.” He added the casino will continue to operate as DiamondJacks and retain its 300-plus employees.
The city’s first casino, the property opened as Isle of Capri in 1993. Legends Gaming bought it in 2006, and later declared bankruptcy twice. The current owners were creditors in Legend’s second bankruptcy. Legends owed $300 million to creditors.
Led by former employees of Isle of Capri, Foundation never has owned a casino before. It managed the Resorts Casino and Hotel and Bally’s Casino and Hotel in ‘s Tunica County, Mississippi from 2011 to 2013 after foreclosure. McMackin noted Foundation will continue to manage DiamondJacks in Bossier City, Louisiana, under contract with the current owners. “It’s business as usual there. Nothing has changed,” he said. The casino collects the lowest amount of revenue among northwest Louisiana’s six casinos.
Mississippi’s third-largest casino market, Vicksburg casinos and others along the Mississippi River have seen gambling revenue drop, despite growth in the Gulf Coast casino market. In recent years, casinos in Vicksburg and Tunica have closed, and another is scheduled to shutter this month in Natchez, resulting in 16 casinos along the Mississippi River.
