Mississippi Choctaws seek to compete with Poarch Creek casinos

Monday, February 2, 2015

Patrons at the Golden Moon Hotel & Casino. Photo from MBCI

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The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians held a grand reopening for one of its gaming facilities on Saturday.

The tribe spent $70 million to upgrade and renovate the Golden Moon Hotel & Casino. The 70,000 square-foot gaming floor 1,150 slot machines, 25 table games, 14 poker tables, a video wall and a bar.

“Being proud of what we have here has got to go through all of our tribal members' blood veins. This belongs to us, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, and when I think about what this place is going to do for our people, it fills me with so much pride,” Chief Phyliss J. Anderson said in a press release.

YouTube: Golden Moon Grand Opening .

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The tribe cut back operations at the Golden Moon and later shut it down after the economic downturn. In the meantime, the Poarch Band of Creek Indians in neighboring Alabama emerged as a major player in the southeast gaming market.

"We really did need to stay competitive and relevant with the gaming facilities that have opened up both in south Mississippi on the coast, as well as in Alabama," Pearl River Resort CEO Holly Gagnon told the Associated Press.

The Mississippi Band hired disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff in part to fight competition from the Poarch Creeks and from other tribes in the region.

Get the Story:
Miss. Choctaws reopen casino to compete with 3 in Ala. (AP 2/1)
Golden Moon Casino reopens as renovations continue (WLOX 2/1) Related Stories:
Mississippi Choctaws to debut casino after $70M in renovations (1/28)