Biloxi toasts Grand's return Casino reopening celebrated at new U.S. 90 location

BILOXI -- After a champagne toast, the gambling began to the chorus of "Let's get it started in here," as the Grand Casino Biloxi sprang back to life Thursday night.

The song by the Black Eyed Peas blared across the gambling floor and echoed the statement just made by Tim Wilmont, the chief operating officer of Harrah's Entertainment.

"This is just the start here in Biloxi," he promised, saying his company had a "lot more to announce by the end of the year" about its plans for property on the south side of U.S. 90. But the night ahead was all that seemed to matter.

Some of the casino's best players and invited guests, people like Anthony and Sherry Duffie of West Point, Ga., got a head start on the action before the Grand opened to the general public at 9 p.m. It was the Duffies first time back to the Coast since Hurricane Katrina.

"This is great for the economy," Anthony Duffie said. "I think that people around here really need this."

The reopening of the Grand Casino and the Aug. 29 reopening of Beau Rivage are expected to bring the market closer to its pre-Katrina levels by luring gamblers with bigger pocketbooks from farther distances.

Karen Sock, the Grand's general manager, told her employees, "This is the South. We know how to deliver on Southern hospitality... Let's get ready to roll!"

The new casino is inside what had been hotel convention space on the north side of U.S. 90. Roy Anderson Corp. did the conversion and upgraded the hotel.

"A lot of RAC and subcontractors' employees lost their homes and all their personal items," Roy Anderson said. "Yet they were working within several days after the storm on repairs and remediation... We are proud to have been working on the Grand Casino Biloxi as this property has been so vital to Biloxi and the entire Coast economy."

Mayor A.J. Holloway had a simple message for casino employees: "Welcome home."

He thanked Harrah's executives for their confidence in the city and pledged that Biloxi would do all it could to help the company "build across the street as quickly as possible."

Anthony Sanfilippo, president of operations in the central United States for Harrah's, presented the mayor with a lifetime membership to the Grand Bear Golf Course and a new set of golf clubs, saying Holloway deserved some relaxation after working hard to rebuild Biloxi since the hurricane.