Going into the second weekend of casinos being back open, Larry Gregory of the Mississippi Gaming and Hospitality Association is quite pleased with the numbers from this past weekend.
“We had a great weekend,” Gregory said. “We opened up, or reopened up, at a great time on Memorial Day weekend. I’m happy to report, statewide, we had 80 percent occupancy in all of our hotels and revenue was actually up.”
According to Gregory, the state’s casinos actually brought in $8 million more than the 2019 Memorial Day weekend.
“It’s hard to believe, but we had 25 million [dollars] of revenue in that four-day period through Memorial Day last year. We were 33 million [dollars] this year,” Gregory said.
That increase in revenue is not only impressive as casinos are now following strict social distancing guidelines, which cuts the occupancy rate by almost half, but also because the coast’s second-largest casino, the Beau Rivage, was still closed.
Gregory is excited about last weekend’s numbers and gives credit to Governor Tate Reeves for trusting the industry to reopen.
“We are in great shape,” Gregory said. “We certainly appreciate the governor for having in confidence in our industry of knowing we were going to do it right, making sure our guests and our employees are safe.”
To watch the full interview with Gregory, click the video below.
