Portofino Resort LLC is moving forward with its proposed 30,000 square foot casino to be built on 11.5 acres at the site of the former Harrah’s, Horizon and Grand Station casinos, according to legal notices and an application filed with the Mississippi Gaming Commission. It would be the city’s fifth casino. The developers indicated they would comply with a state law passed after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 allowing casinos to be built up to 800 feet from water.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has approved a permit for a 408-foot floodwall allowing Portofino to install a new elevated walkway for the proposed casino. Corps approval is required for a gaming license.
Zoning administrator Dalton McCarty said the company has not yet filed an application for the special exception that will allow it to start construction. The project’s lead organizer, gaming industry attorney Michael Cavanaugh, said Portofino resort officials are gathering information for the special exception application.
Harrah’s operated at the proposed Portofino casino site from 1993 to 2003, when it sold the property to Columbia Sussex, which renamed it, the Horizon. The casino closed in 2010 when Columbia Sussex subsidiary Tropicana Entertainment, operators of Horizon, declared bankruptcy and closed the casino. The facility reopened in 2011 as Grand Station but closed in March 2012 amid bankruptcy.
From 1993 to 2010, the casino was located on a barge built to resemble a riverboat, moored next to the hotel and surrounded by a cofferdam. In 2013 the vessel was auctioned for scrap metal and removed. Biloxi-based Vicksburg Hotel LLC owns the building, which houses Portofino Hotel and the previous three casino hotels.
Currently, the four casinos operating in Vicksburg are Ameristar, Lady Luck, DiamondJacks and Riverwalk.
