The pending sale of Horizon Casino to a South Carolina-based gaming industry vendor cleared a regulatory step Thursday when it was approved by state gaming officials.

Approval of Delta Investments & Development LLC’s financing of the $3.25 million transfer of the Mulberry Street casino and hotel was a last-minute addition to the Mississippi Gaming Commission’s meeting agenda. The casino will become Grand Station Casino, according to the group’s application for a license, which the commission granted.

Delta is managed by J. Michael Caldwell of Piedmont, S.C.-based Gateway Gaming, which develops game themes, gaming systems and associated hardware for the industry. The facility opened in November 1993 as Harrah’s, the second in Vicksburg and the first casino-hotel tandem in Mississippi.

The purchase involves the 36,000-square-foot casino and 2.95 acres of the public area at City Front, which is leased back to the City of Vicksburg for $1 a year. The Board of Mayor and Aldermen OK’d four items transferring terms of the agreement to Delta and Great Southern Investment Group Inc.

Annual payments totaling $562,939.56 plus 1.5 percent of net revenues to purchase the City Front acreage are stretched through 2033, with a $450,000 termination fee if the casino closes. Harrah’s and the city struck the deal for the additional space as a potential avenue to build a second casino.