Page 44 - South Mississippi Living - August, 2019

BUSINESS INDUSTRY &
supporting the community
GAMING INDUSTRY
ECONOMIC IMPACT
story by Lori Beth Susman photo courtesy of Lopez-Quave Public Safety Center
The gaming industry in Mississippi celebrates its 27th anniversary this month. The first casino to open in the state was the Isle of Capri in Biloxi. That casino, now known as Golden Nugget, and the 11 others that followed, have had a major economic impact on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
When gaming was legalized in Mississippi in 1992, a taxing formula also was adopted to ensure that residents throughout the state — regardless of location — enjoyed the benefits of the taxes that casinos pay. Under the formula, each casino’s gross gaming revenue is taxed at a rate of about 12 percent, with 8 percent of the gross gaming revenue tax going to the state.
In gaming communities, such as Biloxi, Gulfport, D’Iberville and Bay St. Louis, 3.2 percent of the gross gaming revenue tax is shared with 40 percent of the money going to the city’s general fund, another 40 percent going to the city’s public safety and school systems, and the final 20 percent going to the county’s public safety and public school systems.
What does that mean specifically? Biloxi Public Affairs Manager Vincent Creel answers by quoting former Biloxi Mayor A.J. Holloway who was in office when the first casino opened. “Mayor Holloway used to have a saying: ‘When people ask where the casino money went and is going, I can tell them in three words: Just look around’,” Creel said.
“Police and fire have been primary since Day 1. To
give you some perspective, the combined police and fire departments annual budgets were $4.5 million the first year
THE LOPEZ-QUAVE Public Safety Center in Biloxi was funded by casino tax revenue.
of gaming. Today they are about $30 million combined, and we tell people that we have the best-trained, best-equipped and best-paid police and fire departments of any city our size,” Creel said, adding the same kinds of investments have been made in Biloxi public schools. “We hadn’t built
a new school since 1960, and since gaming arrived we’ve built new schools that look more like community college campuses. We’re seeing huge dividends in the classroom as well.”
Additionally, the gaming industry has brought thousands of jobs to the Gulf Coast. Each casino employs hundreds — some even thousands — of workers, and those workers individually contribute to the area’s economy through taxes and local spending. Casinos also engage vendors and suppliers who businesses are located along the Coast, creating a positive financial ripple.
44 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • August 2019
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