We've always had our casinos on barges. They've always had to be over water. Due to the hurricane, there was a lot of interest to move our casinos on land.
We're going to come very close to reaching or exceeding Atlantic City. These aren't going to be cut-and-paste barges like we had in the past,
Having these meetings was more important than taking part on that panel,
it is going to be very difficult to sell to shareholders investing that amount of money in jurisdictions limited to only water.
I think that will be a public policy question that will be on the minds of every legislator when they come in for the next session. That discussion will be the No. 1 issue in this legislative cycle. This will definitely put the fire under their feet.
I think there will be some attrition, ... Competition is going to be fierce in the early days.
That will be the biggest policy issue the Legislature has had to address in a long time, ... and it's coming like a speeding bullet. Legislators are going to have to make that determination.
will be on the minds of every legislator when they come in for the next session.
We're witnessing the rebirth of the gaming industry on the Gulf Coast. I think these numbers are excellent. They seem to be consistent. I think they're sending out a great message to anyone wanting to invest on the Coast.
We have a very serious situation facing the future of our casino industry,
Those numbers are absolutely unbelievable. The numbers are sending a clear message to Wall Street and other developers that the region is rebounding.
We are just flabbergasted. It could be curiosity or pent-up excitement from people who for several months have been unable to play. We do know that it's an economic gold mine right now.
We are just flabbergasted. It could be curiosity, or pent-up excitement from people who for several months have been unable to play. We do know that it's an economic gold mine right now.
We didn't feel like we could penalize anybody for coming back to ask for more time to get their house in order. It's been very difficult to work under these conditions.
This will definitely put the fire under their feet,
This region twelve years ago was a ghost town, ... The casinos and hotels have revitalized the area and added 14,000 jobs.
We've got about 4,500 employees associated with those casinos right now.
The other challenge is that insurance companies won't want to cover them if they operate on water,
We just kind of want to sit down eye to eye and look at them and see if they are gong to commit to rebuilding. They have told us verbally, all of them, that they are going to rebuild.
Progress on the Gulf Coast has been very positive. We've gotten our first month of our gross revenues (and) the numbers coming in are beyond anyone's wildest expectations.
They're coming north within 800 feet of the shore. It will be the first casino to get approval to move.
It's my understanding that construction will begin after we make the approval tomorrow, and the casino should open in August or September.
It's standing room only. People were waiting two and three deep just to get on machines. It's absolutely unbelievable.
I've had conversations with five CEOs of major casino companies, including Harrah's and MGM and Casino Magic. They tell me they're reluctant to rebuild if the other factors still exist,
That's a large casino development, and that's only the first phase. They're planning on coming back in with different phases on the south side of the property.
I'm not at liberty to comment on the newer ones, but we're getting new proposals pitched to the commission on almost a weekly basis. There are some big, big names who want in on the action on the Gulf Coast.
You could get on one side of the Gulf Coast and shoot a bullet, and it wouldn't stop until it passed the state line. Nobody was coming.
