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Casino opens just in time for storm

Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2002 | 9:52 a.m.

GULFPORT, Miss. -- The Copa Casino opened its new barge to a big crowd on Tuesday despite the tropical storm approaching in the Gulf of Mexico.

The opening was originally scheduled a week ago, but last-minute problems led to a delay.

Rick Carter, the casino's co-owner, said no one on his staff or any of his contractors or vendors were to blame for the delay.

"If you walk around tonight, you're going to see that all the trimmings are up, the machines are all working and the staff is ready to go," he said.

Carter wouldn't guess how much money the four lost days of gambling cost him.

He didn't regret the decision to delay the opening, even though it came a day before Tropical Storm Isidore was expected to arrive on the northern Gulf Coast.

The new barge replaces the 51-year-old cruise ship still parked next door to the pastel barge.

The Copa's old boat, with its fate still undecided, was the last of the casino boats that came to the Mississippi Coast a decade ago. Soon after, a loophole in the state law allowed operators to put gambling halls on top of huge moored barges.

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