But Harrah’s folding will make it harder for the Tunica community. But the industry began a steady decline as more gambling halls opened in the region and internet betting surged. Muddy floodwaters from the river forced casinos to temporarily shut down in 2011 and again last year, further destabilizing the economy. In November 2018, Caesars announced it would close Roadhouse, but have continued to operate the hotel during that time. As a result of competition from Arkansas casinos, particularly those in Tunica, the business of gaming declined in the region.

“You typically divest when you have found a suitable buyer,” Mr. Barber said. The decision stunned this area, which is dotted with billboards advertising casinos and has a privately owned vocational school for aspiring dealers and bartenders. The past several years, though, have yielded a pronounced slump. Mr. Godfrey’s agency said that in April, the 18 casinos in Mississippi River counties logged less than $80 million in revenue, down from $112.5 million just five years earlier. When casinos began arriving here in 1992, so did an era of low unemployment, new infrastructure and a sense of economic progress in a place that had known little of it. This community, long called Robinsonville, even earned the new, tourist-friendly moniker of Tunica Resorts.

Is Tunica Mississippi Still Open?

The planned June 30 closing of Resorts Casino will leave Tunica County with six casinos among five owners. Franklin’s strategy to break out of Tunica’s slump has been to increase the number of attractions for Tunica visitors, opening a Mississippi River museum with boat rides and a welcome center that doubles as a blues museum. Harrah’s exit will cut against that strategy, and leave Tunica County and the state with less tax money. “The biggest problem is the proliferation of gaming in feeder markets for Tunica as well as the overall impact of the recession,” Thompson said. Some people have been lured away to new competitors in Oklahoma, Missouri and elsewhere. Tunica has never fully recovered since the Mississippi River’s 2011 flood broke the gambling habits of many patrons.

• Harrah’s spent $49 million to add a 200-room hotel and renovate the casino with a New Orleans theme, with three different areas patterned after the French Quarter, the Garden District, and Mardi Gras.
• Additionally, Horseshoe has about 10 times the convention space.
• Lavish monuments to gaming — a gleaming high-rise tower, an Irish medieval castle, an art deco movie house — rose up amid the cotton and rice fields, flooding the impoverished Mississippi Delta county with tourists, money and jobs.
• Caesars closed the massive Harrah’s Tunica Hotel & Casino in 2014.
• In the early days of Mississippi gambling, there was little competition, with patrons trekking from Oklahoma, Missouri and elsewhere.
• In terms of casino floor square footage, the Horseshoe Casino & Hotel is the largest casino in Tunica.

At the same time, though, parts of the country are coping with a potential glut of casinos. Unionized employees there discussing Harrah’s closing, set for Monday with a loss of up to 950 jobs.

Other casinos

Caesars’ flagship property in the market is much larger than Roadhouse. Horseshoe has more than 1,200 hotel rooms and 63,000 square feet of gaming space. State figures showed that the Tunica casinos, along with a property in nearby Lula, Mississippi, took in about $595 million of the gaming revenue (28% of the statewide market).

Of the remaining eight casinos, three have been seized by lenders and are for sale — Resorts Tunica Casino, Bally’s Casino Tunica and The Fitz Casino & Hotel. In addition to a busy casino and live entertainment options, Horseshoe Tunica has guest rooms and suites nearby to explore. Horseshoe Tunica Hotel & Casino is taking people on a thrilling ride. Tunica Roadhouse is permanently closed as of January 2, 2020. Explore our nearby location at Horseshoe Tunica for guest rooms and suites, an action-packed casino, live entertainment and more! As a result of the closure of Harrah’s Casino, property tax collections in Tunica County have decreased, causing the county to experience financial difficulties. As a result, county supervisors have been forced to step in and subsidize a full-time fire department in order to protect the unincorporated area of the county that contains the casinos.

Declining revenues

Several states with increasing gambling competition, including Arkansas and other states have contributed to Tunica’s decline. Caesars Entertainment Corporation made the decision in March 2014 to close Harrah’s Casino Tunica along with the property’s hotels, golf course, and events center. The company cited a steady decline in business rates over the past few years. Harrah’s spent $49 million to add a 200-room hotel and renovate the casino with a New Orleans theme, with three different areas patterned after the French Quarter, the Garden District, and Mardi Gras. The casino reopened on April 8, 1996 as Harrah’s Tunica Mardi Gras Casino.