Casino Magic Biloxi
| Margaritaville Resort Biloxi | |
|---|---|
| Former names | Casino Magic Biloxi |
| General information | |
| Location | Biloxi, Mississippi |
| Address | 195 Beach Boulevard |
| Opened | June 5, 1993 (as Casino Magic) June 23, 2016 (as Margaritaville)</small |
| Closed | August 28, 2005 (as Casino Magic) |
| Owner | Cono Caranna |
| Other information | |
| Number of rooms | 373 |
| Website | |
| margaritavilleresortbiloxi |
|
Margaritaville Resort Biloxi is a resort hotel in Biloxi on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. It previously operated with a dockside casino as Casino Magic Biloxi Casino & Hotel, until it was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The property has a 373-room hotel, located on 10.6 acres (4.3 ha) of land.
Casino Magic and its neighbors, the Isle of Capri Biloxi and Grand Casino Biloxi made up a district known as "Casino Row".
Casino Magic Corp., operator of a casino by the same name in the Gulf Coast town of Bay St. Louis, unveiled plans in January 1993 for a second casino barge, to be located in Biloxi next to the Isle of Capri casino at Point Cadet. The casino would be three stories, with a companion five-story floating parking garage. The casino opened on June 5, at a cost of $55 million. Additional space opened in December, bringing the total to 55,000 square feet (5,100 m2) of gaming, with 1,160 slot machines, 69 table games, and a keno parlor.
Regulations required Casino Magic to build a 250-room hotel or spend at least a quarter of its investment on land, but the company met this requirement by developing its Bay St. Louis property, where it built a hotel, marina, RV park, restaurants, and a golf course. Without such amenities, the Biloxi casino largely relied on bus tours and day-trippers from nearby states. A $9-million parking garage was built in 1994, with plans to build a $15-million hotel on top of it, but the company wavered on those plans because of the high expense. In 1995 it bought Casino One Corp., which held a lease and option on 4.5 acres (1.8 ha) of land adjacent to Casino Magic, from the Gaming Corporation of America for $13 million in stock. The land was initially earmarked for parking, with a possible hotel and retail complex in the future.
Finally, though, the company pressed forward with the hotel on top of the parking garage, part of a $22-million plan begun in 1996, including a new facade and restaurant. The 378-room hotel opened on May 1, 1998. The company hoped it would help attract more high-end players from among the new overnight guests drawn by expanded jet service at the Gulfport-Biloxi Airport.
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