The Mississippi Gaming Commission has given developers of the proposed Riverwalk Casino more time to confirm an appearance before the state regulatory body on Dec. 21.

&#8220We’ve given them another day, possibly another day and a half before we can say they will appear,” said Allen Godfrey, the commission’s deputy director.

Usually, those wanting to appear on the commission’s monthly agenda apply more than two weeks in advance. With eight days to go before the three-member panel meets, Riverwalk, to be built near Rainbow in Vicksburg, has not applied.

Once a year, the commission meets away from its offices in Jackson. This time the meeting will be at the refurbished Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi.

Originally proposed as Magnolia Hills Resort and Pot of Gold Casino, Riverwalk’s site plans include a hotel and a resort theme with features to provide views of the Mississippi River.

It has passed regulatory processes of the City of Vicksburg and is in the third phase of the state process.

Its parking layout was modified after residents of the Warrenton Road area protested the initial plan, which had parking well north of the casino property and closer to residences.

Other modifications included moving at least one residential driveway and the casino bearing the cost to address any erosion that occurs to adjacent property and submitting plans to the state on environmental impact.

Onetime Rainbow developer and refinery owner John A. Barrett Jr. of Shawnee, Okla., and investment banker Lee Seippel of New York are principals in the development group.

John Maxey, a Jackson attorney and counsel for the group, said in November that financing arrangements were imminent and the group expected to complete a vital step in seeing the project through.

Site approval is the first of three phases for licensing casino ventures in Mississippi. The second is a more detailed site development plan. After a group is given two years to do so, it must present a financial package to the commission for approval.

Godfrey, however, said details may vary from one venture to the next, making the financial package presentation step a complex process.

The $50 million project received its site approval in July 2005 and its development plan was approved five months later. Its site approval expires July 14.

Riverwalk is one of three casinos in preconstruction phases for Vicksburg. While the construction on all three remains uncertain because of regulatory requirements, the possibility remains Vicksburg will be home to seven casinos if all come to fruition.

One, planned by Minneapolis-based Lakes Entertainment, is be built further south on pilings west of U.S. 61 South between the Mississippi River and Meadow Lane. Site approval expires on Feb. 16 and there has been no movement on the site.

Calls to Lakes Entertainment offices outside Minneapolis were not returned.

Also, a 40-acre site on the former Vicksburg Chemical property in development by Mississippi Bluffs LLC was approved by the commission in July. The land is being marketed by Denver-based developer Paul Bunge for casino development, a professional-level golf course and space for outlet shopping.

Vicksburg has four casinos, the last of which opened in 1994. Two of the original casinos have changed ownership and a third, Rainbow, is for sale.