Scarlet Pearl Grand Opening
History was made today as the city of D’iberville opened its first casino. News 25’s Kristen Durand was there as the doors opened to the public and gives us an inside look.
From a vision, to a ground breaking, to construction and finally to fruition, after 20 years of patiently waiting, hard work and perseverance from the Roy Anderson Corporation, the city of D’iberville and many others, the Scarlet Pearl has finally opened its doors. CEO LuAnn Pappas said, “D’iberville has been waiting 20 years for this. The city and the community, we couldn’t ask for better supporters. We do owe our debt of gratitude to the city of D’iberville, certainly all the construction and the trades that helped get this project open in 17 months.”
Thousands of people crowded the front entrance as city and casino officials cut the ribbon to the Coast’s newest and D’iberville’s first casino, a casino that brings 1,500 new jobs to the Coast. Pascagoula resident Sandy Tullier said, “This has been a long time coming, especially with D’iberville growing so quick.”
Even people from out of state made their way to the grand opening. Avid casino-goers Floresita Kodak and her husband made the trek from Florida to enjoy the casino’s four restaurants, 36-holes of mini golf and a 60,445 square foot casino floor. “I’m excited maybe to win a jackpot today,”said Kodak.
Not only is the Scarlet Pearl raking in a ton of extra cash for the city, it’s also creating even more possibilities for economic development and that’s a big win for the city of D’iberville. D’iberville Mayor Rusty Quave said, “This here is the anchor for the downtown development of the waterfront and we’ve been getting inquiries from all over the Gulf Coast of other businesses that would like to come in and build because of this project.”
This is a $300 million project that the city hopes will be a magnet to attract other casino development. “We have three other sites that have site approval and we’ve been working on those for the last 15-20 years as well. I think once this one opens the door and they see the success of this one then we’ll have other groups come in and open casinos up,” said Quave.
From a vision, to a ground breaking, to construction and finally to fruition, after 20 years of patiently waiting, hard work and perseverance from the Roy Anderson Corporation, the city of D’iberville and many others, the Scarlet Pearl has finally opened its doors. CEO LuAnn Pappas said, “D’iberville has been waiting 20 years for this. The city and the community, we couldn’t ask for better supporters. We do owe our debt of gratitude to the city of D’iberville, certainly all the construction and the trades that helped get this project open in 17 months.”
Thousands of people crowded the front entrance as city and casino officials cut the ribbon to the Coast’s newest and D’iberville’s first casino, a casino that brings 1,500 new jobs to the Coast. Pascagoula resident Sandy Tullier said, “This has been a long time coming, especially with D’iberville growing so quick.”
Even people from out of state made their way to the grand opening. Avid casino-goers Floresita Kodak and her husband made the trek from Florida to enjoy the casino’s four restaurants, 36-holes of mini golf and a 60,445 square foot casino floor. “I’m excited maybe to win a jackpot today,”said Kodak.
Not only is the Scarlet Pearl raking in a ton of extra cash for the city, it’s also creating even more possibilities for economic development and that’s a big win for the city of D’iberville. D’iberville Mayor Rusty Quave said, “This here is the anchor for the downtown development of the waterfront and we’ve been getting inquiries from all over the Gulf Coast of other businesses that would like to come in and build because of this project.”
This is a $300 million project that the city hopes will be a magnet to attract other casino development. “We have three other sites that have site approval and we’ve been working on those for the last 15-20 years as well. I think once this one opens the door and they see the success of this one then we’ll have other groups come in and open casinos up,” said Quave.
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