[9/25/03]Harrah’s Vicksburg Hotel and Casino will become Horizon Casino if approval is granted next month as expected by the Mississippi Gaming Commission.

Harrah’s announced the deal to sell its Vicksburg holdings to Kentucky-based Columbia Sussex Corporation of Fort Mitchell in July.

Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but it is expected to close by November when Harrah’s would have observed its 10th anniversary of operating what it opened as the state’s first hotel-casino combo.

The proposed sale and related matters are on the agenda for the next meeting of the state commission that oversees gambling in Mississippi on Oct. 22 in Jackson.

In a separate matter, the commission tabled an application for site approval for a third Greenville casino Wednesday and is expected to be asked for approval for a second boat in Natchez, possibly next year.

Vicksburg is home to four casinos today, and managers here say they expect the new boats north and south of here to have little impact on the local market.

“While we wish them well, I think a new Greenville casino will have minimal impact on Ameristar based on our quality of asset,” said Ray Neilsen, general manager of Ameristar Casino Hotel, which has the largest facilities here.

Vicksburg is about 101 miles south of Greenville and 74 miles north of Natchez. Because of that distance, Curt Follmer, general manager of Rainbow Hotel Casino, said the two proposed new casinos should not attract many local gamblers.

“I don’t think it will be significant,” Follmer said. “We don’t draw that many customers from those areas.”

Locally, casinos attract a majority of their customers from within the state and most of them come from within a 50 mile radius. Neilsen and Follmer both said that continued renovations at local boats will keep customers here. They also said they expect the new Horizon Casino to be an asset to the overall market, but that a proposed fifth casino in Vicksburg is not likely to develop anytime soon.

“It would be very difficult for the market to support a fifth casino, and it will be hard to get the financial banking for such a development,” Follmer said.

Jim Belisle of Multi-Gaming Management and Lakes Entertainment announced plans earlier this year to build a casino and golf resort on land off U.S. 61 South, but nothing has been said publicly since about the proposal.

Columbia Sussex operates 57 hotels, resorts and casinos in 26 states and overseas, including the Lighthouse Point Casino in Greenville, the Horizon Casino Resort in South Lake Tahoe and the Westin Casuarina property on Grand Cayman Island. The developer of the proposed casino in Natchez, Charles Cato, is a partner in the Lighthouse Point Casino.

Their plans for the Vicksburg operation have not been revealed.