Biloxi ushers in post-Katrina economy with a billion-dollar casino

Valets held the doors open Tuesday morning as people walked into Beau Rivage and gawked before they gambled.

Giant butterflies in the shopping promenade, sculpted glass in the bars, and cocktail waitresses in shimmering brocade were a feast for the eyes inside Biloxi's first billion-dollar-plus casino.

"It's like a fairyland," said Doris Todd of Atlanta.

The casino reopened with a public salute to its 3,800 employees from MGM Mirage's top executives, Gov. Haley Barbour, Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., and Biloxi Mayor A.J. Holloway. Originally built at a cost of $800 million by Steve Wynn, Beau Rivage had $550 million more invested in it by MGM Mirage after Hurricane Katrina.

"For us to do anything other than to rebuild like we have would have been a sin," said Terry Lanni, chief executive officer of MGM Mirage.

"We're here, we're pleased to be back and we love Mississippi."

The casino has 93 table games, 2,100 slots, 38 video poker games and a new poker room with its own bank of safe-deposit boxes for gamblers. The poker room features leather inlay on the walls and onyx flourishes.

"The goal was to really create the most elite and most beautiful card room that the South had ever seen," said Ken Lambert Jr., director of poker operations in Mississippi for MGM Mirage. "We also designed this room for customer service. We didn't go cheap on anything. All the countertops are solid onyx."

The Beau's 1,740 guest rooms and suites have been refurbished and are back open.

Sandy Simmons, a wedding planner, was staying at the Beau for the first time last year when he had to evacuate Aug. 28. He said the casino is more impressive now than it was then.

"It's a little Bellagio," he said. "I've been to Bellagio. They do everything so perfect. They don't do anything halfway."

George Corchis, president of Beau Rivage, said the people of the Mississippi Gulf Coast had been an inspiration and had helped make the reopening possible.

"This is the power to rise above adversity, no matter how overwhelming the adversity, no matter how overwhelming the odds," he said.

Larry Gregory, the executive director of the Mississippi Gaming Commission, was on hand to oversee the reopening.

"You look at the brick and mortar," Gregory said. "That's fine and dandy, but it's the smiles on the employees' faces, that's what it's all about."

Barbour said Beau Rivage had set the "gold standard" for the Coast.

"When you take the best and you continue to improve, I promise you you're on the right track."