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The first of what
Horizon casino managers hope will be many hands was dealt Tuesday afternoon
in an area set aside from the slot machines and other table games. Players
said they were happy to see competitive play return.
“You can never have enough poker,” said Mack Boyd of Brandon.
Two of the four state-licensed casinos in Vicksburg, the Isle of Capri and
Ameristar, had previously opened person-against-person play, but both shut
down their games, Ameristar the second to do so, in 2002.
Since, Boyd said he has traveled to state casinos in Tunica and Mississippi
Band of Choctaw Indian facilities near Philadelphia to play, but likes
Vicksburg because it is closer.
Nationally, interest in poker has surged since preliminaries and final
rounds of world championships have been televised. In another show,
celebrities compete in the card games.
Horizon Casino Manager Gene Ford said he believes there is enough interest
locally and across the region to maintain the poker tables. Horizon owns and
operates the downtown facilities built and operated from 1993 until 2003 by
Harrah’s. It’s Vicksburg’s smallest casino in square footage and had not
offered live poker previously.
“We’ve had a lot of requests over the past two months and we think it’s
something else we can do to set us apart from everyone else,” Ford said.
Most casino games are “house” games, similar to slot machines in that the
casinos keep what patrons lose. At the poker tables, players compete to win
or lose money among themselves and the casino, which provides the dealers
and enforces the rules, keeps a few dollars from each round.
Horizon is owned by Kentucky-based Columbia Sussex Corporation of Fort
Mitchell, which also operates 57 hotels, resorts and casinos in 26 states
including the Lighthouse Point Casino in Greenville.
Ford said the casino is offering 7-card Stud and Texas Hold’em, variations
of poker, at four tables in a remolded area on the casino’s first floor that
had previously been a cafe. Plans are to add another game, Omaha, he said.
Minimum bets are $3 with various limits.
No other local casino said it has plans to add poker, but Curt Follmer,
general manager at Rainbow, said it is something he wishes he had room to
offer.
“If I had the space, I’d have poker in a hot second, but I just don’t have
the space,” Follmer said.
Kim Tullos, general manager at the Isle of Capri, said the Isle will not
move forward with new tables right now.
“We’re waiting to see if it’s a fad that’s going to last or not,” Tullos
said.
Dockside gaming came to Vicksburg in 1993 after two countywide votes. The
first to open was the Isle of Capri which was followed by Harrah’s and
Ameristar.
Rainbow Casino was the last to open and will celebrate its 10th anniversary
this summer.
Proposals for a fifth local casino on land formerly owned by Vicksburg
Chemical are in the discussion phase. A previous plan to open a casino on
the Big Black River was shot down after the Mississippi Gaming Commission
declared the site unsuitable.
Local governments share taxes collected from the $200 million per year
patrons lose on wagers. A .8 percent revenue tax is apportioned based on
population between city and county coffers. A 3.4 percent tax is divided
with 65 percent to the City of Vicksburg, 25 percent to Warren County and 10
percent to the Vicksburg Warren School District.
The casinos also pay property taxes on their developments, including hotels,
to the county, city and schools and per-gaming position fees of $150 per
year to the city. The state’s tax is 8 percent of revenue from wagers.
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