Bally's Vicksburg

Bally's Vicksburg is a riverboat casino and hotel in Vicksburg, Mississippi. It is owned and operated by Bally's Corporation. It has 25,000 square feet (2,300 m2) of gaming space and 89 hotel rooms.[1][2]

Bally's Vicksburg
Location Vicksburg, Mississippi
Opening dateJuly 12, 1994
No. of rooms89[1]
Total gaming space25,000 sq ft (2,300 m2)[1]
Casino typeRiverboat casino
OwnerBally's Corporation
Previous names
  • Rainbow Casino (1994–2012)
  • Lady Luck Casino Vicksburg (2012–2020)
  • Casino Vicksburg (2020–2021)
Websiteballysvicksburg.com

History

The project was initiated by the Rainbow Casino Corporation (RCC), made up of John A. Barrett and Leigh Seippel. Hospitality Franchise Systems agreed to provide $7.5 million in financing, and to franchise a hotel at the property under its Days Inn brand.[3] Six Flags agreed to build a 10-acre theme park named Pennants.[4][5] United Gaming (later known as Alliance Gaming, and then Bally Technologies) signed on to manage the casino.[6]

The Rainbow Casino opened on July 12, 1994, with 574 slot machines and 28 table games.[7] United Gaming took a 45 percent ownership stake on the day it opened.[6] It took a controlling stake the following year, after RCC failed to finance elements of the casino that it was responsible for.[8]

The hotel, owned by AmeriHost, opened in May 1995, and the company called it "the most upscale Days Inn anywhere".[9] It was rebranded as an AmeriHost Inn by 2000,[10] and in 2002 it was sold to AmeriHost's former chairman, Michael P. Holtz.[11]

The theme park, renamed as Funtricity Entertainment Park, also opened in May 1995.[12] Six Flags designed it as the flagship in a new chain of entertainment centers, targeted at markets too small to support a full-size park;[13] within two years, though, the concept was reportedly put on hold.[14] The park closed in 1998,[15] and Alliance bought the site for $500,000[16] and adapted its main building for use as a concert venue.[17]

A casino expansion was completed in 1999, increasing the number of slot machines from 725 to over 1,000.[18]

In 1999, United Gaming put the property, along with its other casino in Nevada, on the market, to help pay down corporate debts, but no satisfactory offers were received.[18]

Bally put the Rainbow back on the market in 2006.[19] In 2010, a sale was finally made to Isle of Capri Casinos for $80 million.[20] Isle of Capri rebranded the property under its Lady Luck name in November 2012.[21]

In March 2018, Eldorado Resorts (which had acquired Isle of Capri Casinos in 2017) agreed to sell the property to Churchill Downs Inc., owner of the neighboring Riverwalk Casino, for $51 million.[22] The sale was canceled, however, as a result of inquiries from antitrust regulators.[23] In July 2019, Eldorado agreed instead to sell the property to Twin River Worldwide Holdings, along with the Isle of Capri Casino Kansas City, for a total of $230 million.[24] The deal was made to help finance Eldorado's pending acquisition of Caesars Entertainment.[24] The sale to Twin River closed in July 2020, and the property was renamed as Casino Vicksburg.[25]

Twin River then purchased the Bally's casino brand from Caesars Entertainment, changed its own name to Bally's Corporation, and announced plans to rebrand most of its casinos.[26][27] As part of this rebranding, Casino Vicksburg became Bally's Vicksburg in August 2021.[28]

See also

References
  1. Wally Northway (2010-04-06). "Isle of Capri buys Rainbow Casino". Mississippi Business Journal.
  2. Howard Stutz (2010-04-06). "Isle of Capri acquires casino in Mississippi". Las Vegas Review-Journal.
  3. "N.J. firm signs pact for Vicksburg casino". The Advocate. Baton Rouge: via NewsBank. AP. September 28, 1993. Retrieved 2012-06-14. (subscription required)
  4. Taylor, Louise (February 18, 1994). "Lady Luck gets approval at Coahoma". The Sun Herald. Biloxi: via NewsBank. Retrieved 2012-06-14. (subscription required)
  5. "Six Flags plans Vicksburg park". The Commercial Appeal. Memphis: via NewsBank. AP. February 23, 1995. Retrieved 2012-06-14. (subscription required)
  6. "Utd Gaming to acquire 45% stake in partnership". Dow Jones News Service. via Factiva. July 13, 1994. Retrieved 2012-06-14. (subscription required)
  7. "Vicksburg welcomes 4th casino". The Sun Herald. Biloxi: via NewsBank. AP. July 13, 1994. Retrieved 2012-06-14. (subscription required)
  8. Form 10-K (Report). Alliance Gaming. September 28, 1995. p. F-18. Retrieved 2012-06-14.
  9. Faust, Fred (May 15, 1995). "4 operators share Vicksburg". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. via NewsBank. Retrieved 2012-06-14. (subscription required)
  10. Form 10-K (Report). AmeriHost Properties. March 24, 2000. p. 6. Retrieved 2012-06-15.
  11. Form 10-K (Report). Arlington Hospitality. March 31, 2003. p. 39. Retrieved 2012-06-15.
  12. Form 10-K (Report). Alliance Gaming. September 28, 1995. Casino Operations. Retrieved 2012-06-14.
  13. McCann, Nita Chilton (May 29, 1995). "Flagship location of Six Flags' newest attraction comes to Vicksburg". Mississippi Business Journal. via Factiva. Retrieved 2012-06-15. (subscription required)
  14. Johnson, Greg (March 23, 1997). "The Players". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-06-15.
  15. "Funtricity Family Entertainment Park to close" (Press release). Premier Parks (via Factiva). September 11, 1998. Retrieved 2012-06-14. (subscription required)
  16. Form 10-K (Report). Alliance Gaming. September 28, 1999. Casino Operations. Retrieved 2012-06-15.
  17. Purpura, Paul (June 20, 1999). "Rainbow approaches 5th anniversary". Associated Press Newswires. via Factiva. Retrieved 2012-06-14. (subscription required)
  18. "Few serious offers may pull Rainbow Casino off market". The Commercial Appeal. Memphis: via NewsBank. AP. February 23, 2000. Retrieved 2012-06-15. (subscription required)
  19. Hamerman, Joshua (December 4, 2006). "More gaming M&A deals: A safe bet". Mergers & Acquisitions Report. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved 2012-06-15.
  20. Stutz, Howard (June 9, 2010). "Isle of Capri completes $80 million casino purchase". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 2012-06-13.
  21. "Lady Luck returns to Mississippi with re-branding of Vicksburg casino" (PDF) (Press release). Isle of Capri Casinos. November 30, 2012. Retrieved 2012-12-03.
  22. Hidalgo, Jason (March 1, 2018). "Eldorado Resorts agrees to sell two casinos in Pennsylvania and Mississippi". Reno Gazette Journal. Retrieved 2018-03-01.
  23. Marty Finley (July 9, 2018). "Churchill Downs Inc. terminates plan to purchase casino". Louisville Business First. Retrieved 2018-07-13.
  24. Bailey Schulz (July 11, 2019). "Eldorado Resorts to sell 2 properties in preparation of Caesars deal". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 2019-07-13.
  25. Bailey Schulz (July 2, 2020). "Eldorado sells 2 properties ahead of Caesars merger". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 2020-07-02.
  26. Patrick Anderson (October 13, 2020). "Twin River could soon become Bally's". Providence Journal. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
  27. "Bally's Corporation completes name and ticker symbol change" (Press release). Bally's Corporation. November 9, 2020. Retrieved 2021-08-03 – via PR Newswire.
  28. "Casino Vicksburg is now rebranded to Bally's Vicksburg Casino". The Vicksburg Post. August 17, 2021. Retrieved 2021-08-18.

32.294313°N 90.914736°W / 32.294313; -90.914736

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