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Gary was able to head down to Gold Strike Casino (an MGM property, and sister casino to the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, MS) in Tunica, MS to see the grand opening of The Sports Book at Gold Strike! It’s not the casino, per se,” said Tunica Convention & Visitors Bureau CEO Webster Franklin. The filing doesn’t indicate that Caesars plans to tear down any of three shuttered hotels.

A division of Caesars Entertainment Corp. is asking a federal bankruptcy judge for permission to “dismantle and liquidate” part of its shuttered Harrah’s casino complex in Mississippi’s Tunica County.

A Wednesday court filing said Caesars wants to remove five barges that hold a 136,000-square-foot casino in Buck Lake, an oxbow lake of the Mississippi River about 30 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee.

Caesars declined comment Friday, citing court proceedings.

Las Vegas-based Caesars closed Harrah’s in June, eliminating about 1,000 jobs at the sprawling complex that opened in 1996 as Grand Casino Tunica. The closure punctuated years of decline in the Tunica market, which has suffered from increased competition, a 2011 flood, and a recession that bit customers hard. The company continues to operate Horseshoe Tunica and Tunica Roadhouse Hotel & Casino, among eight remaining Tunica Resorts casinos.

Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Jan. 15, citing $19.9 billion in debt versus $12.4 billion in assets. A hearing on the Tunica request is scheduled March 25 before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Benjamin Goldgar in Chicago.

The company said it can cut costs and raise money to repay debts by selling the barges and their contents.

“All current estimates for the liquidation project indicate that the debtors will generate significant revenues from liquidating the obsolete property,” the filing stated.

The Harrah’s complex includes more than 2,000 acres of land, three hotels with 1,360 rooms, a golf course, convention center, arcade, shooting range and recreational vehicle park. While the barges and one hotel are on the unprotected Mississippi River side of the levee, most other assets are on the land side.

Local officials say that reopening those land-based assets, particularly the area’s only convention center, would bolster Tunica County tourism.

“All of that stuff is what is needed. It’s not the casino, per se,” said Tunica Convention & Visitors Bureau CEO Webster Franklin.

The filing doesn’t indicate that Caesars plans to tear down any of three shuttered hotels.

“The debtors also believe that removing the obsolete property from Buck Lake may best position the entirety of the Harrah’s Tunica property for sale to a third party,” the document stated.

The area that includes the parking lot in front of the casino as well as the small hotel immediately adjoining is leased from the Clarksdale-based Yazoo-Mississippi Levee District. Because Caesars is in bankruptcy, it might be able to break that lease. Bankruptcy filings show the district is Caesars’ seventh-largest unsecured creditor, with $10.5 million due.

The filing also gives insight into the financial struggles that led to Harrah’s closure, showing the casino began losing money in 2013.

Caesars said it began trying to sell Harrah’s and some other casinos in 2012. A deal with one potential buyer fell through in early 2013. The company has since tried again to sell the property, even negotiating with a prospective buyer to sell it for “a marginal sum” if the buyer would take over liabilities including the levee district lease and utility bond payments.

Horsehoe and Roadhouse saw their revenue declines turn around, although they captured far from all of Harrah’s business. The filing states the pair saw revenues rise 13 percent since Harrah’s closure.

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Harrah's Casino Tunica, formerly Grand Casino Tunica, was a casino and resort located in Tunica Resorts, Mississippi. It was owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment. The casino offered a 140,000 sq ft (13,000 m²) casino and three hotels with a total of 1,356 rooms. There was also an RV park, the Bellissimo Spa & Salon, a convention center, and a 2,500 seat entertainment venue called the Harrah's Event Center.

Citing steadily declining business rates in the last few years, Caesars announced the closure of Harrah's Casino Tunica, along with its hotels, golf course, and events center in March 2014.^[1] The casino permanently closed on June 2, 2014 and was demolished in August 2015.^[2] As of February 2017, the three hotel buildings remain standing, but have not operated since the resort's closure in 2014. The golf course and events center have also been abandoned.

• 1History

History[edit]

Grand Casino Tunica (1996-2007)[edit]

The casino itself was built in 1996. It was the largest casino between Las Vegas and Atlantic City, featuring a large poker room. The Harrah's Casino Hotel was directly connected to the casino and contained 148 rooms and 40 suites. Two additional hotels were situated along a lake approximately ½ mile away. Complimentary shuttle service ran 24 hours a day to take guests to and from the casino. The Veranda Resort Hotel, which opened in 1996 along with the casino, contained 532 rooms and 36 suites. The largest hotel was the Terrace Hotel & Spa, which opened in 1999 and contained 563 rooms and 37 suites.

Grand Casino Tunica's original owner was Grand Casinos, Inc., headed by Lyle Berman, a pioneer in developing resort-style casinos on Native American reservations and in Mississippi.

In 1998, Berman and Grand Casinos, Inc., sold their Tunica, and Biloxi, Mississippi resorts to the gaming division of Hilton Hotels, with the combined assets being spun off to create a new corporation called Park Place Entertainment (later renamed Caesars Entertainment).

In 2005, Caesars Entertainment was acquired by Harrah's Entertainment, which converted back to the Caesars Entertainment name in 2010. In the Tunica market, Caesars also operates Horseshoe Casino Tunica and Tunica Roadhouse Casino & Hotel (formerly Sheraton). The three properties share management and player marketing operations.

Harrah's Casino Tunica (2007-2014)[edit]

Harrah's Casino Tunica Ms

In October 2007, Harrah's officials announced that Grand Casino Tunica would undergo a $45 million renovation of its hotels and casinos, which included the resort being renamed Harrah's Casino Tunica.^[3] In addition, the company announced that the new Harrah's would feature a new buffet bearing the name of Food Network celebrity chef Paula Deen. Paula Deen's Buffet was reported to be the first celebrity chef-branded buffet at an American casino.^[4] It was rebranded in 2013 shortly after she was removed from the food network.^[5]

Casinos In Tunica Mississippi

A Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill owned by Scottsdale, Arizona-based Capri Restaurant Group Enterprises LLC opened in Harrah's in September 2010, replacing the former Replays bar and grill and Murano's Italian Restaurant.

Previous Harrah's Casinos in Tunica[edit]

This is the third casino in Tunica Resorts to bear the name Harrah's. The previous Harrah's Tunica was designed by Steelman Partners. The first was located just off Casino Strip Blvd., several miles south of the former Grand, and was the first casino to open in that area in 1993. In 1996, Harrah's acquired the shuttered Southern Belle Casino, approximately 500 yards (450 m) away from the first Harrah's. The company operated both casinos as Harrah's for a short time, calling the second property 'Harrah's Mardi Gras.' Eventually, Harrah's sold the original property to Isle of Capri Casinos, who operated it as 'Isle of Capri Tunica' for a short time before closing it.

Horseshoe Casino Tunica

With the sale of Caesars to Harrah's in 2004, the combined companies were forced to sell two properties to avoid owning five of the nine casinos in the Tunica market. Harrah's Mardi Gras was sold, along with Bally's Casino Tunica, to Colony Capital, and Harrah's Mardi Gras was renamed Resorts Casino Tunica.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^WREG.com: Harrah’s Tunica Casino To Close
2. ^'Demolition begins at Harrah's Casino in Tunica'. WMC-TV. Memphis, Tennessee, USA. August 22, 2015. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
3. ^Harrahs.com: Harrah's Tunica Coming Soon
4. ^Harrahs.com: Paula Deen's Buffet - Coming May 2008
5. ^Tepper, Rachel (June 26, 2013). 'Paula Deen Dropped By Caesars Entertainment, Loses Four Casino Buffets'. The Huffington Post. Retrieved April 26, 2016.

External links[edit]

Grand Casino Tunica Open

Coordinates: 34°51′20″N90°17′40″W / 34.855613°N 90.294544°W

Tunica Casinos Entertainment