Harrah’s is getting back into the Gulf Coast with a brand new casino: Margaritaville. From the Houston Chronicle:
Casino giant Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. said Tuesday it planned to open a Margaritaville Casino & Resort in Biloxi, Miss., with songwriter Jimmy Buffett, which it said would be the largest development in Mississippi since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005.
Work on the $704 million project is expected to begin this summer on a 46-acre site south of U.S. Highway 90 in Biloxi. The site formerly was occupied by Grand Casino and Casino Magic.
Buffett, the chief “parrothead” known for his lazy-day beach songs such as “Margaritaville” and “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” said he grew up on the Gulf Coast and as a native of Pascagoula, Miss., was a survivor of storms himself.
“One of the essential elements of life along the Gulf Coast is the Creole belief that hard work and good fun go hand in hand,” Buffett said in a statement. “So, with that in mind I say, ‘Let’s get to work and let’s let the good times roll again.'”
Harrah’s Plans New Mississippi Casino | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle
This is interesting to more than Jimmy Buffet fans because it sheds some light on where Harrah’s 2.0 might be headed. After the Horseshoe and Caesars acquisitions, it looked like the company was going to rebrand and open new properties under the Caesars, Horseshoe, and Harrah’s brands. There’s been speculation that Bally’s LV and AC will be replaced or renovated into Horseshoes.
But Margaritaville is a step in a different direction. Could the restaurant at the Flamingo have been a test run? Maybe. I wonder what the reaction would be if Harrah’s announced it was retheming the Flamingo as a “Margaritaville?”
Maybe this is a sign that Harrah’s, instead of unifying its holdings under a few dominant brands, will open and theme casinos that are suited towards their unique markets. With Buffet being a Gulf Coast hometown guy, it seems like a natural partnership, though I would like to have been at the meetings where Harrah’s execs decided to open the Margaritaville casino rather than a Buffet restaurant at the Horseshoe or Harrah’s (or even Flamingo) Biloxi. Does this mean that “chain” casinos are a thing of the past? Is Harrah’s switching to a model like MGM Mirage where, with the exception of MGM Grand (LV, Detroit, Macau), there are no “chain” casinos? Or does is just mean that Gary Loveman is a closet Parrothead?