After the flood: New Orleans

When Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, the effects were devastating. By August 31, 80 per cent of New Orleans was flooded, with some parts under 15ft of water, and over a dozen casinos that employed nearly 10,000 people in the Gulf Coast were wiped out. Simon Binns looks at how a once thriving industry has rebuilt itself.

90 % of the southeastern Louisiana evacuated and the most successful evacuation in the United States. Almost 1 million in the area have fallen to the unusable electricity for several months.

By July 1, 2006, Louisiana's population decreased by almost 5 % and nearly 250, 000.

Louisiana and Mississippi's all counties, 22 counties in western Alabama, and 11 counties in Florida were designated as federal disasters. Louisiana and Mississippi's fiscal loss exceeded $ 150 billion.

The casino category on the Mexican Gulf, which employed 9, 000 people on land and water casinos, was literally annihilated overnight.

All 13 casinos, Birokushi, Gulf Port, and Bay Centuruis, had to be closed. There are places that resume and some have already opened, but some are not.

The tourist industry in this area has grown thanks to the prosperity of the casino, but now the state is 500 a day for gambling tax.

The operating company was asked to reorganize and formulate an action plan. The MGM Mirage announced that the Birokushi's Bolibage Resort has been postponed indefinitely due to "big physical damage". Pinnacle's Casino Magic Birokushi was in the same situation, but the company publicly published its own restoration plan.

When Mr. Larry Gregory, the Mississippi Gaming Committee, responded to CNN in September 2005, he did not believe that gambling companies would return and resume their private business. The main reason is the gaming method enacted 12 years ago, stating that casinos could only be operated on a ship floating on the water.

"I talked to five executives of a major casino company, such as Harraz, MGM, casino magic. They basically said they wouldn't want to change if there were other aspects of this law. Gregory said in an interview with CNN. Gregory is concerned that it would be difficult to convince the shareholders of these companies that the water casino would be operated again, not just the Gulf and Mississippi River.

Mississippi's offshore gambling industry has brought about $ 3 billion a year to the state, and is considered to be the third largest casino market in Japan. Birokushi, Gulfoport, and Bay St. Louis are only $ 1 billion last year.

"Twelve years ago, this area was ghost town." The casino and the hotel activated the area and increased the employment of 14, 000 people. "

A priority was moving apartments to tens of thousands of people without shelter in the wake of Katrina.

More than 9, 000 Harrah employees were injured in Hurricane Katrina and its predecessor, Hurricane Rita, which struck the Gulf Coast in September 2005.

When Katrina sealed off our cabinets in New Orleans and completely destroyed our river vessels in Galfport and Biloxy, Harrah's had already created short-term shelters and short-term information centers to give employees and other area residents a safe space to live, to access the needs and resources for topic 1 for flat surveys, and to communicate with family members," said Jacqueline Peterson, approved by Intergaming.

The Harrah's Harrah's Recovery Fund, based on a $1 million pledge from the Harrah's Foundation, has risen to $6. 6 million thanks to generous employees, buyers, business partners, public goodwill, Harrah's actors, and additional gifts from the Foundation in the amount of $500. 000. As a result, the victims of Katrina and Rita have received $8. 1 million in grants, loans and relocation assistance in complex and remote areas.

In the direction of several months in Galfport, Lake Charles and Baton Rouge, the Employee Information Centers have been established to provide Harrah's The workers were not closed, they could get the necessary resources to help them transform their homes and overcome the destruction of their relatives and survival, as well as medical assistance in the space.

But after two years, almost all the houses and businesses were restored. According to the writings of Biloxi's mayor, Hay Jay Holloway, the casino later bought more than 175 acres of land in Biloxi during the time passed by Katrina. After that, it is quite possible that the operators will incur losses, and almost all the casinos in the area will be rebuilt and improved, and fresh and very interesting plans are also planned.

It is worth noting that Harrah's New Orleans achieved a 13, 6% increase in sales in the January-May 2007 period compared to the time in 2005.

"Harrah's New Orleans, Grand Casino Biloxi and Grand Casino Gulfport suffered," Peterson says. "The New Orleans was damaged but not an absolute loss. The Grand Casino Biloxi, however, was totally injured as the ship was ripped off its roots and thrown deep into the island.

Gulfport was also heavily damaged and has since been removed, but Peterson said the area will not be rejected.

"We are not closing any properties indefinitely and Biloxi has reopened after a year of rebuilding," she said. While the sale of Gulfport was part of a strategic geographic plan, Harrah's Entertainment remains a supporter of the Gulf Coast. "We have no hesitation at all in rebuilding, building more, building better. In February 2006, we reopened Harrah's Casino in New Orleans, and in September 2006, we opened a new $170 million luxury hotel tower. In February 2006, we reopened Lake Charles, Louisiana. In Biloxi, we opened the Grand Biloxi Hotel in August 2006, and had just announced an investment of more than $700 million in a Margaritaville-branded casino and entertainment center.

But short-term losses were severe, with $887 million in intangible assets from the Biloxi Hotel, $786 million in intangible assets from Gulfport, and $561 million in goodwill, although we returned $192 million due to the termination of contractual obligations with Lake Charles, Louisiana.

"In addition to these costs, we lost revenue and incurred restoration costs. We are in the red for a full 10 years," said Mr. It took years to rebuild.

But with the opening of the Treasure Bay Casino in Biloxi in early July, nearly all of the casinos in Biloxi that were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Katherine have reopened.

The former pirate ships have been completely rebuilt and remodeled, and there are no more pirate ship types.

The President and Casino Magic will no longer be open, but Casino Magic will be part of a $1 billion casino complex next to the new Margaritaville Casino, owned by the new owners of Harrah's. Margaritaville is scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2010.

But there are limits to this. New Orleans law requires that casinos be built under the management of Harrah's, which is located near the French Quarter.

Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans wants to turn most of the city into a casino area like Las Vegas. Casinos will be attached to the French Quarter and surrounding areas, as well as some of the nine existing hotels in the city center. Harrah's will undoubtedly want to maintain the status quo, and other operators are unwilling to commit to similar plans, demanding that a corresponding infrastructure be created to expand New Orleans' gambling industry.

Vedran Vuk, an economics student at Loyola University in New Orleans, argues in his blog that deregulation of casinos means more casinos offering low-qualified, high-paying jobs to New Orleans residents.

"The real problem in the New Orleans labor market is finding jobs that pay well and don't require high qualifications," he says.

The casino industry offers such an option. It's true that the job of a casino card dealer requires in-depth knowledge of proper gaming etiquette. But anyone can learn this on the job or through proper training. Casino jobs are preferable to those with benefits because they pay high salaries.

There are also a dozen casinos in Mississippi, a state on the Gulf Coast that was hit by Hurricane Katrina. Why are there as many as 12 casinos in Mississippi, adjacent to a polluted coast, and only one in New Orleans, the world's tourism capital? The obvious answer is differences in the laws.

"If I were a gambling entrepreneur and I asked, 'Where would I build a casino? New Orleans or the Mississippi Gulf Coast? I would answer without hesitation, New Orleans."

But Vuk argues that even the Mississippi Gulf Coast rules are a serious threat to business. "Casinos are forced to be on the water. The regulations are a direct catalyst for disaster and destruction."

On July 1, the state amended its gambling laws to allow casinos to use pilings (long steel structures driven into the ocean floor and attached to platforms on the shore).

"The problem with pilings is that they're still above water," Gregory said in an interview with CNN. And if a hurricane like Katrina comes, they're washed away by stacks and barges. We're facing a very serious threat to the future of the casino industry. Insurance companies are not going to want to insure casinos that are on the water."

Mississippi's new law, allowing casinos to be located 800 feet above water and not requiring swimming underwater, has sparked reinvestment and recovery. Many hope New Orleans will follow suit.

Two years after Katrina, only 60% of New Orleans' residents had returned, but the casino industry quickly demonstrated its commitment to the region and was part of the recovery.

Of course, there is still much work to be done, but all signs point to the casino industry being able to thrive again on the Gulf Coast.