Hurricane Gustav robbed the US' Mississippi Gulf Coast of a profitable weekend last month.
Casino revenues dipped several days surrounding the storm’s glancing impact and tourism took a blow too. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency listed a total of 13 state businesses with major damage, 36 with minor damage and one destroyed.
Under a state mandate, the casinos shut down on the Sunday and were allowed to reopen hotels as early as Wednesday morning. Jim Ray, BancorpSouth regional president for south Mississippi, estimated the closure cost the 11 coast casinos between $22m and $28m in gross revenue.
