Riverwalk Casino and Hotel may open earlier than expected as Vicksburg’s fifth casino resort.

Magnolia Hills, LLC, the parent company, won Mississippi Gaming Commission approval Thursday for a gaming license, the final major regulatory step.

The OK clears the way for Vicksburg’s fifth casino to open its doors ahead of schedule.

Construction on the $100 million project on Warrenton Road north of the Rainbow site began in June 2007, with administrators aiming for a November opening.

“We’re ready to go, and ahead of schedule. We’re hoping to be open by early October,” said Riverwalk CEO Greg Carlin.

The approval of a gaming license means the casino can now legally receive shipment of its gaming machines and tables.

“We’re going to have 805 slot machines and 18 tables, and we expect them to be delivered in early August,” said Carlin.

An 80-room hotel, two restaurants, 750-space parking lot and extensive landscaping project also are planned for the casino’s 22-acre riverside site. Carlin said contractors are nearing the final, interior phases of construction.

Magnolia Hill is the first company to receive a gaming license for a Vicksburg casino since the initial wave of casino construction began after the state’s 1990 decision to legalize casino gambling along the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast. The existing four casinos in the city opened over an 11-month span in 1993 and 1994, the last being Rainbow, the first and, until Riverwalk, the only casino south of the river bridges.

Two other companies have planned and proposed casinos in Vicksburg in recent years, but have failed to go before the state agency to secure a gaming license.

One, proposed by Minnesota-based Lakes Entertainment, faces a July 30 deadline on an agreement with the City of Vicksburg to show progress on developing its $200 million casino off U.S. 61 South. If not, about 65 acres of former railroad right-of-way will revert to the city for a bicycle trail.

Plans on another, Mississippi Bluffs, were canceled in January after key investors pulled out of the deal and the subsequent sudden death of the project’s developer.

Separately on Thursday, commissioners denied one site proposal for a development on the Gulf Coast.

An inland site north of U.S. 90 in Biloxi was deemed outside the state-set zone of 800 feet from the mean high tide. Casinos were allowed to build at that distance from water after Hurricane Katrina.

The South Beach Casino Resort is planned by RW Development and led by Ray Wooldridge, a former minority owner of the New Orleans Hornets. Attorneys said the principals can either appeal the commission’s decision, scale down the project or cancel it. No decision has been made.

The Biloxi Planning Commission approved the RW Development project in March and the city approved zoning variances necessary for the project in April.