Tunica reels as competition, recession hit casinos
Tunica reels as competition, recession hit casinos
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In this May 12, 2014 photograph, Scott Barber, Caesars regional president for the Mid-South, discusses the closing of Harrah’s Tunica casino, in his office at the Robinsonville, Miss., gaming facility. The closure affects a work force of about 1,300 and involves several hotels, a golf course, a convention center and the casino itself. Caesars Entertainment Corp., will continue to operate its two other area properties: Horseshoe Tunica and Tunica Roadhouse Hotel and Casino. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 12, 2014 photograph, a man walks by the bright lights of the games at the Horseshoe Tunica casino in Robinsonville, Miss. Recent renovations at the casino are expected to help draw some of the patrons of Harrah’s Tunica casino, which closed on June 2. The closure affects a work force of about 1,300 in a job-starved part of the state. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 12, 2014 photograph, the bright lights of the games at the Horseshoe Tunica casino in Robinsonville, Miss., are seen. Recent renovations at the casino are expected to help draw some of the patrons of Harrah’s Tunica casino, which closed on June 2. The closure affects a work force of about 1,300 in a job-starved part of the state. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 12, 2014 photograph, the slot machines have few customers at Harrah’s Tunica casino in Robinsonville, Miss. Caesars Entertainment Corp., closed the gaming resort June 2. The closure affects a work force of about 1,300 and involves several hotels, a golf course, a convention center and the casino itself. Caesars Entertainment Corp., will continue to operate its two other area properties: Horseshoe Tunica and Tunica Roadhouse Hotel and Casino. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 12, 2014 photograph, an empty craps table awaits customers at Harrah’s Tunica casino in Robinsonville, Miss. Caesars Entertainment Corp., closed the gaming resort June 2. The closure affects a work force of about 1,300 and involves several hotels, a golf course, a convention center and the casino itself. Caesars Entertainment Corp., will continue to operate its two other area properties: Horseshoe Tunica and Tunica Roadhouse Hotel and Casino. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
This May 13, 2014 photograph shows The Veranda hotel in Robinsonville, Miss., which is one of three hotels that closed along with Harrah’s Tunica casino June 2, by Caesars Entertainment Corporation. The closure affects a work force of about 1,300 and involves the hotels, a golf course, a convention center and the casino itself. Caesars Entertainment Corp., will continue to operate its two other area properties: Horseshoe Tunica and Tunica Roadhouse Hotel and Casino. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 13, 2014 photograph, area casinos use billboards to make an open play for Harrah’s patrons since its Tunica casino closed on June 2, in Robinsonville, Miss. The closure affects a work force of about 1,300 and involves several hotels, a golf course, a convention center and the casino itself. Caesars Entertainment Corp., will continue to operate its two other area properties: Horseshoe Tunica and Tunica Roadhouse Hotel and Casino. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 12, 2014 photograph, a gaming table at the Horseshoe Casino is open for new customers that its owners hope to attract from the closing of their sister property, Harrah’s Tunica casino in Robinsonville, Miss. The closure affects a work force of about 1,300 and involves several hotels, a golf course, a convention center and the casino itself. Caesars Entertainment Corp., will continue to operate its two other area properties: Horseshoe Tunica and Tunica Roadhouse Hotel and Casino. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 12, 2014 photograph, a customer plays the slots at Harrah’s Tunica casino in Robinsonville, Miss. Caesars Entertainment Corp., closed the casino resort on June 2. The closure affects a work force of about 1,300 and involves several hotels, a golf course, a convention center and the casino itself. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 13, 2014 photograph, a car speeds past a water tower used by Harrah’s Tunica casino and resorts in Robinsonville, Miss. Caesars Entertainment Corp., closed Harrah’s casino and its associated hotels, golf course, and its convention center on June 2, but will continue to operate its two other area properties: Horseshoe Tunica and Tunica Roadhouse Hotel and Casino. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 13, 2014 photograph, Gold Strike casino resort in Robinsonville, Miss., and other area gaming establishments stand to pick up patrons from Harrah’s Tunica casino and resort since it closed June 2. Caesars Entertainment Corp., parent company of Harrah’s, will continue to operate its two other area properties: Horseshoe Tunica and Tunica Roadhouse Hotel and Casino. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 12, 2014 photograph, Gold Strike casino resort general manager Niklas Rytterstrom discusses the impact the closing of neighboring Harrah’s Tunica casino and resort has on the neighboring casinos, at his Robinsonville, Miss., gaming establishment. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 13, 2014 photograph, the traffic on the valet lanes at Harrah’s Tunica casino is light at the Robinsonville, Miss., gaming resort. On June 2, Caesars Entertainment Corp., owners of the gaming facility, closed the doors on Harrah’s Tunica. The closure affects a work force of about 1,300 and involves several hotels, a golf course, a convention center and the casino itself. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 13, 2014 photograph, Webster Franklin, director of the Tunica Convention and Visitors Bureau in Tunica, Miss., stands outside a preserved train depot that serves visitors as a gift shop and visitors bureau. Franklin is concerned about the economic impact of the closure of Harrah’s Tunica casino to his region. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
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In this May 12, 2014 photograph, Scott Barber, Caesars regional president for the Mid-South, discusses the closing of Harrah’s Tunica casino, in his office at the Robinsonville, Miss., gaming facility. The closure affects a work force of about 1,300 and involves several hotels, a golf course, a convention center and the casino itself. Caesars Entertainment Corp., will continue to operate its two other area properties: Horseshoe Tunica and Tunica Roadhouse Hotel and Casino. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 12, 2014 photograph, Scott Barber, Caesars regional president for the Mid-South, discusses the closing of Harrah’s Tunica casino, in his office at the Robinsonville, Miss., gaming facility. The closure affects a work force of about 1,300 and involves several hotels, a golf course, a convention center and the casino itself. Caesars Entertainment Corp., will continue to operate its two other area properties: Horseshoe Tunica and Tunica Roadhouse Hotel and Casino. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 12, 2014 photograph, a man walks by the bright lights of the games at the Horseshoe Tunica casino in Robinsonville, Miss. Recent renovations at the casino are expected to help draw some of the patrons of Harrah’s Tunica casino, which closed on June 2. The closure affects a work force of about 1,300 in a job-starved part of the state. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 12, 2014 photograph, a man walks by the bright lights of the games at the Horseshoe Tunica casino in Robinsonville, Miss. Recent renovations at the casino are expected to help draw some of the patrons of Harrah’s Tunica casino, which closed on June 2. The closure affects a work force of about 1,300 in a job-starved part of the state. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 12, 2014 photograph, the bright lights of the games at the Horseshoe Tunica casino in Robinsonville, Miss., are seen. Recent renovations at the casino are expected to help draw some of the patrons of Harrah’s Tunica casino, which closed on June 2. The closure affects a work force of about 1,300 in a job-starved part of the state. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 12, 2014 photograph, the bright lights of the games at the Horseshoe Tunica casino in Robinsonville, Miss., are seen. Recent renovations at the casino are expected to help draw some of the patrons of Harrah’s Tunica casino, which closed on June 2. The closure affects a work force of about 1,300 in a job-starved part of the state. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 12, 2014 photograph, the slot machines have few customers at Harrah’s Tunica casino in Robinsonville, Miss. Caesars Entertainment Corp., closed the gaming resort June 2. The closure affects a work force of about 1,300 and involves several hotels, a golf course, a convention center and the casino itself. Caesars Entertainment Corp., will continue to operate its two other area properties: Horseshoe Tunica and Tunica Roadhouse Hotel and Casino. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 12, 2014 photograph, the slot machines have few customers at Harrah’s Tunica casino in Robinsonville, Miss. Caesars Entertainment Corp., closed the gaming resort June 2. The closure affects a work force of about 1,300 and involves several hotels, a golf course, a convention center and the casino itself. Caesars Entertainment Corp., will continue to operate its two other area properties: Horseshoe Tunica and Tunica Roadhouse Hotel and Casino. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 12, 2014 photograph, an empty craps table awaits customers at Harrah’s Tunica casino in Robinsonville, Miss. Caesars Entertainment Corp., closed the gaming resort June 2. The closure affects a work force of about 1,300 and involves several hotels, a golf course, a convention center and the casino itself. Caesars Entertainment Corp., will continue to operate its two other area properties: Horseshoe Tunica and Tunica Roadhouse Hotel and Casino. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 12, 2014 photograph, an empty craps table awaits customers at Harrah’s Tunica casino in Robinsonville, Miss. Caesars Entertainment Corp., closed the gaming resort June 2. The closure affects a work force of about 1,300 and involves several hotels, a golf course, a convention center and the casino itself. Caesars Entertainment Corp., will continue to operate its two other area properties: Horseshoe Tunica and Tunica Roadhouse Hotel and Casino. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
This May 13, 2014 photograph shows The Veranda hotel in Robinsonville, Miss., which is one of three hotels that closed along with Harrah’s Tunica casino June 2, by Caesars Entertainment Corporation. The closure affects a work force of about 1,300 and involves the hotels, a golf course, a convention center and the casino itself. Caesars Entertainment Corp., will continue to operate its two other area properties: Horseshoe Tunica and Tunica Roadhouse Hotel and Casino. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
This May 13, 2014 photograph shows The Veranda hotel in Robinsonville, Miss., which is one of three hotels that closed along with Harrah’s Tunica casino June 2, by Caesars Entertainment Corporation. The closure affects a work force of about 1,300 and involves the hotels, a golf course, a convention center and the casino itself. Caesars Entertainment Corp., will continue to operate its two other area properties: Horseshoe Tunica and Tunica Roadhouse Hotel and Casino. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 13, 2014 photograph, area casinos use billboards to make an open play for Harrah’s patrons since its Tunica casino closed on June 2, in Robinsonville, Miss. The closure affects a work force of about 1,300 and involves several hotels, a golf course, a convention center and the casino itself. Caesars Entertainment Corp., will continue to operate its two other area properties: Horseshoe Tunica and Tunica Roadhouse Hotel and Casino. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 13, 2014 photograph, area casinos use billboards to make an open play for Harrah’s patrons since its Tunica casino closed on June 2, in Robinsonville, Miss. The closure affects a work force of about 1,300 and involves several hotels, a golf course, a convention center and the casino itself. Caesars Entertainment Corp., will continue to operate its two other area properties: Horseshoe Tunica and Tunica Roadhouse Hotel and Casino. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 12, 2014 photograph, a gaming table at the Horseshoe Casino is open for new customers that its owners hope to attract from the closing of their sister property, Harrah’s Tunica casino in Robinsonville, Miss. The closure affects a work force of about 1,300 and involves several hotels, a golf course, a convention center and the casino itself. Caesars Entertainment Corp., will continue to operate its two other area properties: Horseshoe Tunica and Tunica Roadhouse Hotel and Casino. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 12, 2014 photograph, a gaming table at the Horseshoe Casino is open for new customers that its owners hope to attract from the closing of their sister property, Harrah’s Tunica casino in Robinsonville, Miss. The closure affects a work force of about 1,300 and involves several hotels, a golf course, a convention center and the casino itself. Caesars Entertainment Corp., will continue to operate its two other area properties: Horseshoe Tunica and Tunica Roadhouse Hotel and Casino. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 12, 2014 photograph, a customer plays the slots at Harrah’s Tunica casino in Robinsonville, Miss. Caesars Entertainment Corp., closed the casino resort on June 2. The closure affects a work force of about 1,300 and involves several hotels, a golf course, a convention center and the casino itself. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 12, 2014 photograph, a customer plays the slots at Harrah’s Tunica casino in Robinsonville, Miss. Caesars Entertainment Corp., closed the casino resort on June 2. The closure affects a work force of about 1,300 and involves several hotels, a golf course, a convention center and the casino itself. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 13, 2014 photograph, a car speeds past a water tower used by Harrah’s Tunica casino and resorts in Robinsonville, Miss. Caesars Entertainment Corp., closed Harrah’s casino and its associated hotels, golf course, and its convention center on June 2, but will continue to operate its two other area properties: Horseshoe Tunica and Tunica Roadhouse Hotel and Casino. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 13, 2014 photograph, a car speeds past a water tower used by Harrah’s Tunica casino and resorts in Robinsonville, Miss. Caesars Entertainment Corp., closed Harrah’s casino and its associated hotels, golf course, and its convention center on June 2, but will continue to operate its two other area properties: Horseshoe Tunica and Tunica Roadhouse Hotel and Casino. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 13, 2014 photograph, Gold Strike casino resort in Robinsonville, Miss., and other area gaming establishments stand to pick up patrons from Harrah’s Tunica casino and resort since it closed June 2. Caesars Entertainment Corp., parent company of Harrah’s, will continue to operate its two other area properties: Horseshoe Tunica and Tunica Roadhouse Hotel and Casino. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 13, 2014 photograph, Gold Strike casino resort in Robinsonville, Miss., and other area gaming establishments stand to pick up patrons from Harrah’s Tunica casino and resort since it closed June 2. Caesars Entertainment Corp., parent company of Harrah’s, will continue to operate its two other area properties: Horseshoe Tunica and Tunica Roadhouse Hotel and Casino. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 12, 2014 photograph, Gold Strike casino resort general manager Niklas Rytterstrom discusses the impact the closing of neighboring Harrah’s Tunica casino and resort has on the neighboring casinos, at his Robinsonville, Miss., gaming establishment. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 12, 2014 photograph, Gold Strike casino resort general manager Niklas Rytterstrom discusses the impact the closing of neighboring Harrah’s Tunica casino and resort has on the neighboring casinos, at his Robinsonville, Miss., gaming establishment. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 13, 2014 photograph, the traffic on the valet lanes at Harrah’s Tunica casino is light at the Robinsonville, Miss., gaming resort. On June 2, Caesars Entertainment Corp., owners of the gaming facility, closed the doors on Harrah’s Tunica. The closure affects a work force of about 1,300 and involves several hotels, a golf course, a convention center and the casino itself. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 13, 2014 photograph, the traffic on the valet lanes at Harrah’s Tunica casino is light at the Robinsonville, Miss., gaming resort. On June 2, Caesars Entertainment Corp., owners of the gaming facility, closed the doors on Harrah’s Tunica. The closure affects a work force of about 1,300 and involves several hotels, a golf course, a convention center and the casino itself. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 13, 2014 photograph, Webster Franklin, director of the Tunica Convention and Visitors Bureau in Tunica, Miss., stands outside a preserved train depot that serves visitors as a gift shop and visitors bureau. Franklin is concerned about the economic impact of the closure of Harrah’s Tunica casino to his region. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this May 13, 2014 photograph, Webster Franklin, director of the Tunica Convention and Visitors Bureau in Tunica, Miss., stands outside a preserved train depot that serves visitors as a gift shop and visitors bureau. Franklin is concerned about the economic impact of the closure of Harrah’s Tunica casino to his region. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
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TUNICA RESORTS, Miss. (AP) — It was 3:30 p.m. on a Monday in May at Harrah’s Tunica Hotel & Casino in northwestern Mississippi.
Gamblers were few in number, and dealers stood ready at idle card tables.
It was easy to see why Caesars Entertainment Corp. was giving up on the 136,000 square-foot casino floor — the largest between New Jersey and Las Vegas. Harrah’s closed June 2 — 18 years after it first opened as the Grand Casino.
The Tunica Miracle — as boosters called the coming of gambling to what had been an isolated, economically moribund slice of the Mississippi Delta — is over. A boom that peaked with 13,000 jobs has slid into a struggle for survival.
The first casino opened on a riverboat docked at a remote river landing in 1992. With people lining up, more casinos came, building glitzy resorts in Tunica County’s northern end, as close to Memphis, Tennessee, as possible. In the first full year after Harrah’s began operation, casinos in Tunica County won $776 million from gamblers. The peak came in 2006, when revenue reached almost $1.2 billion.
But increased competition and a recession that drained patrons’ pocketbooks began to bite. In 2013, Tunica’s casinos took in about $700 million.
Employment has been more than halved since its peak in 2001, when Tunica County counted 13,000 workers in the gambling industry. After the last gambler left the purple-pattern carpet on the Harrah’s barge, so did about 1,000 jobs, dropping Tunica’s total to about 6,000.
Sabrina Johnson was a cook at Harrah’s for 16 years. She said she survived multiple rounds of layoffs but saw her hours shrink to less than 40 a week.
The 45-year-old Coahoma County resident is now looking for a new job, but says full-time options are scarce in Tunica and her home county, and she doubts she can equal the $13.80 an hour she was making at Harrah’s.
“I’ve still got to have some kind of income coming in,” Johnson said. “The bills aren’t going to stop.”
Casino owners and analysts are drawing parallels with New Jersey’s struggling casino center.
“Tunica looks and feels a lot like a market like Atlantic City,” said Caesars regional President R. Scott Barber.
Caesars, facing $23.6 billion in debt, said it wasn’t making enough money to run the sprawling 2,200-acre Harrah’s campus. It included more than 1,200 hotel rooms in three buildings, a golf course, a shooting range, an RV park and a kids arcade, knit together by a 24-hour bus system that connected Harrah’s with Caesars’ two other nearby casinos in Tunica County. Those properties — the Horseshoe Casino and Hotel and the Tunica Roadhouse Casino with their 1,800 jobs — stayed open. Caesars is investing $10 million in the renovation of the Horseshoe.
“We feel good about where we are,” Barber said. “We feel bad about the ultimate outcome, but it’s a good business decision for the long-term future of the company.”
But Harrah’s folding will make it harder for the Tunica community. Harrah’s has the largest convention facility in the market. Its closing will cut advertising revenue for the Tunica Convention & Visitors Bureau and local government will have less revenue to take care of the extensive infrastructure it built — including an airport, a fire department, and a public recreation center — when revenues surged with gambling.
Gambling tax revenue collected by Tunica County has already fallen from $47.3 million in 2006 to $28.3 million in 2013.
Leaders of other casinos aren’t sure if the decline will stop before more gambling halls close.
“Tunica, as a market, I don’t know if we’ve seen the bottom,” said Niklas Rytterstrom, the general manager of the Gold Strike, owned by MGM Resorts International, one of the market’s strongest players.
That’s in contrast to Mississippi’s Gulf Coast casino market, where declines have been shallower and casinos have actually been winning more from gamblers in recent months. That market, traditionally smaller than Tunica, is likely to see revenues surpass its northern neighbor with Harrah’s closure.
In the early days of Mississippi gambling, there was little competition, with patrons trekking from Oklahoma, Missouri and elsewhere. But those and many other states have casinos now. In recent years, competition has gotten even closer to home, with Southland Park Gaming and Racing in West Memphis, Arkansas, luring many traditional Tunica patrons. Southland won $142 million from gamblers last year, more than an average Tunica casino.
The recession has hurt, too. The number of casino visitors has fallen by two thirds since 2007. The number of visits from Mississippi patrons is down almost as steeply.
Caesars has been trying to sell Harrah’s for three years, and Barber said the company could split up the property, allowing a buyer to purchase only the casino and hotel tower on the Mississippi River side of the levee. Of the remaining eight casinos, three have been seized by lenders and are for sale — Resorts Tunica Casino, Bally’s Casino Tunica and The Fitz Casino & Hotel.
Webster Franklin of the Tunica Convention & Visitors Bureau preaches the need for Tunica to diversify tourism offerings. A 2011 study suggested attractions such as a water park, a family entertainment center, and a museum such as Ripley’s Believe It or Not.
“We have one industry,” Franklin said. “We need help to develop it.”
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