Harrah’s plans $40 million expansion at its Mardi Gras casino

Wednesday, May 24, 2000 | 10:23 a.m.

Harrah's will spend $40 million in the next year to accommodate an additional 1,000 gamblers on the vessel's undeveloped second deck.

General Manager Michael St. Pierre said open boarding in Missouri has boosted turnstile traffic on the Mardi Gras by 40 percent.

"With open boarding, players have told us they prefer the Mardi Gras," he said. "They're voting with their feet."

The long expected build-out of the larger of Harrah's two casinos includes a remodeled entrance, a new area for high-limit gamblers and what St. Pierre termed a "freshening up" of nongambling pavilion areas.

The project is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2001.

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