Gerald Blessey was a partner in the law firm that was my first employer after law school, and he was elected mayor of Biloxi a few years after I started my practice. Gerald was the driving force in bringing the cruises to nowhere to Biloxi. The cruise operating out of Biloxi increased the income of local businesses, and another was started in Gulfport that did the same. The river cities and the coast were able to ultimately get the law passed that would allow casino gaming in what they thought would be large boats, but later became extremely large buildings on the water, but the law was county option. Several counties on the Mississippi and Hancock county voted to legalize gaming in those counties about a year before Harrison county passed a law allowing gaming. New Orleans also legalized gaming based upon a similar law in Louisiana before Harrison County did that.
However, Harrison County had 3 operating casinos before any other casinos were opened in Mississippi or Louisiana. When I lived in Ocean Springs, I had to drive by 6 casinos every day to get to my office. It was amazing to watch the transformation of Biloxi during those early years of casino gaming. I don't think anyone in Mississippi or the rest of the country realized how the industry would thrive in our state.
My wife and I were in line to enter the Isle of Capri on August 1, 1992 on that first day of business. Gerald and I played Blackjack at the same table for a while that day. I thanked him for being the driving force that brought gaming to Mississippi.
The big boys in the industry in Las Vegas thought New Orleans was the place, and some thought Tunica county with its proximity to Memphis would be the place. As a result, the first five or six casinos in Biloxi and Gulfport were operated by small companies with no ties to the major gaming corporations. At this point, the only areas of the country that exceed the revenue generated on the Mississippi Coast are Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Chicagoland, and Baltimore-Washington.
ggbmagazine.com
However, Harrison County had 3 operating casinos before any other casinos were opened in Mississippi or Louisiana. When I lived in Ocean Springs, I had to drive by 6 casinos every day to get to my office. It was amazing to watch the transformation of Biloxi during those early years of casino gaming. I don't think anyone in Mississippi or the rest of the country realized how the industry would thrive in our state.
My wife and I were in line to enter the Isle of Capri on August 1, 1992 on that first day of business. Gerald and I played Blackjack at the same table for a while that day. I thanked him for being the driving force that brought gaming to Mississippi.
The big boys in the industry in Las Vegas thought New Orleans was the place, and some thought Tunica county with its proximity to Memphis would be the place. As a result, the first five or six casinos in Biloxi and Gulfport were operated by small companies with no ties to the major gaming corporations. At this point, the only areas of the country that exceed the revenue generated on the Mississippi Coast are Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Chicagoland, and Baltimore-Washington.
Buckle Up Biloxi! - GGB Magazine
Thirty years of rockin’ and rollin’ with legal casino gaming
ggbmagazine.com
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