Mississippi Gives Go-Ahead for Tullis Casino Resort in Biloxi

The Mississippi Gaming Commission has voted in favor of the new Biloxi Casino Resort location which will see the project be built from the ground up. The Tullis Garden Hotel and Casino will sprawl on 35 acres at 360 Beach Blv west of Harrah’s Gulf Coast, following a meeting last Thursday.

Tullis Garden Hotel and Casino Celebrates History as It Braces for the Future

This will be the first new casino resort to arrive in the state since 2007 when the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino opened its doors. The arrival of a new resort is not exactly something the state wanted originally.

However, climate change is partly to blame, and not least the devastating consequences of Hurricane Katrina and other cyclones that have made the existing model, relying heavily on riverboat casinos, heavily exposed to nature’s elements.

No more, as riverboats are disembarking their casinos onto the mainland, where damage is easier to manage. The new project seeks to partially restore the iconic status of the Tullis-Toledano Manor, which was destroyed during Hurricane Katrina and was originally built in the 1850s.

The investor, Israel Schwartz, wants the new casino resort to commemorate the building. As to the project itself, it’s quite interesting, as it will offer an 11-story and 300-room hotel along with 53,000 sq ft dedicated to gaming, with 900 slot machines and 35 live dealer games, plus a sportsbook.

The project will also erect a replica of the Tullis-Toledano Manor itself, making sure that the building is the central piece of the sprawling gaming and hospitality project.

The Tullis Project Still Needs to Clear More Hurdles

While the Tullis project hopes to get ahead, a rival project, the Tivoli Casino, is also in the works. Both need permission to build, but the Tullis project has the tidelands lease which allows it to proceed.

Conversely, Tivoli Casino is a far grander and more ambitious development which vows to plough as much as $1 billion into the development of a 1,300-room hotel and 100,000 sq ft of gambling space, featuring 2,000 slot games and 75 tables, along with a sportsbook.

The project is pitched by local developer Danny Conwill and the supposed site of the project is west of the Biloxi Yacht Club. However, the Tivoli Casino’s release is not contingent on the release of the Tullis project, with both projects likely to clear all regulatory hurdles as riverboat casinos will eventually be replaced by their onshore counterparts.