The Margaritaville Casino in Biloxi opens next week and Jimmy Buffett was in Jackson today to meet with the Mississippi Gaming Commission.

[See video below]

The popular singer met a Mississippi Gaming Commission requirement to appear before the panel before the casino’s VIP celebration at 5 p.m. and public grand opening at 8.

“Nothing like good timing!” Buffett told commissioners meeting this morning at their North Street office. “It’s always a pleasure to come home, and a double pleasure to get certified, because we open next week.”

The casino, to employ almost 1,000, will be located on Biloxi’s Back Bay.

Commissioners in March gave the casino their blessing, said Buffett’s business partner of 15 years, John Cohlan, but Buffett was required to make a personal appearance before the board as part of the certification. “Jimmy was on the road a month ago, and he couldn’t do it,” Cohlan explained.

But today, Buffett charmed all those at the meeting without singing the first note.
“I made my first professional dollar in Biloxi back in the 60s,” the Pascagoula native said. “I’m very proud to be coming back here.”

The $62 million project has been in the works since 2009, with the struggling economy playing a role in its slow progression.

But today, the project and the area of Biloxi it will invigorate are blooming. Biloxi’s Fifth Street, which will provide a tropical entryway to the casino, has been rebuilt. Trolleys will bring customers to the casino from a 900-vehicle parking lot.

“It’s touching,” Buffett said of the casino’s employment numbers. “It’s good to be an economic force on the Gulf Coast.”

It saddens him, Buffett said, to drive along U.S. 90 between New Orleans and Biloxi and see bare slabs where before Hurricane Katrina, buildings once stood.

“We certainly will be a catalyst in that area,” Buffett said. “We’re doing what we can.”

Cohlan told commissioners that Buffett “has opened my eyes to that part of the world.
“It’s safe to say that this is the most special thing we’ve ever done, from Jimmy’s perspective.”

The singer said he’s going to be “pretty involved” in his namesake casino, even though he says home is a wide swath “from upstate New York to the French West Indies.

“I’m always in and out of New Orleans,” he said. “And, the Walter Anderson Museum in Ocean Springs is a pet project of mine. It’s a good excuse to come here and be home.”

Buffett said he’ll be there for the opening and promises a big party.
And yes, he will perform.

“I don’t know,” Buffett said when asked what he will sing. “I haven’t written the set list. But, I want a dance floor. It will be uptempo.”

In a press release, Jimmy Buffett discusses the Margaritaville Casino in Biloxi, which opens on May 22nd:

“I am thrilled,” Jimmy answered, when asked about the opening of Margaritaville Biloxi. “Biloxi has been on my songline for a long, long time. I made my professional singing debut here back in the late 60’s, when I used to drive my Ford Falcon ‘down around Biloxi’ from the school in Hattiesburg, to play weekends at Trader Jons. Before that, I spent many a weekend, as a child of the Gulf Coast, with my family at the Sun ‘n Sand. I have been fortunate to do many things in my career, but coming full circle to Biloxi with Margaritaville, surely is one of the highlights. It is not only fun, to be coming home and bringing our brand of fun to the Mississippi Gulf Coast,” Buffett added, “It is also very gratifying to be able to provide nearly 1,000 new jobs for Mississippians these days. I would just like to personally thank everyone who has had a hand in this adventure, so, let’s let the fin begin.”

Margaritaville Biloxi is the Mississippi Gulf Coast’s first casino to be constructed since the Mississippi Legislature approved land-based gaming in 2006 and the first casino to be built in the United States since 2010.

Visit www.margaritavillebiloxi.com for more information on the casino.

The ribbon-cutting is nearing for Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville Casino and Restaurant in Biloxi. The Sun Herald reports that the casino will open May 22nd.

Once the VIP celebration gets under way at 5 p.m., the resort opens to the public at 8 p.m.
Buffett says he will be in Biloxi that day, said casino president Tom Brosig, but he’s saving some surprises for the opening.

There are still plenty of finishing touches to be completed before the $62 million resort makes its debut. Fifth Street, which will provide a tropical entrance to the resort, is nearly rebuilt and should get its first layer of pavement this week.

The Biloxi property is the first stand-alone Margaritaville Casino, and it’s built in the city where Buffett played his first professional gig. Brosig said about 24 investors are part of the project and 20 percent to 30 percent of them are local.

This is the ninth casino Brosig has opened. “I’m expecting big things for this property,” he said. Marketing started this week and the website goes live Friday.

Read the full story and view a photo gallery here.

Jimmy Buffett made his case before the Nevada Gaming Control Board two weeks ago and today he was back in Las Vegas where the Nevada Gaming Commission unanimously approved his application:

Buffett and his company needed gaming licenses because of a trademark sublicense agreement with the Flamingo that allows Palm Beach, Fla.-based Margaritaville Holdings to share in gaming revenues from the Margaritaville casino, which opened in October. The company has also operated the Margaritaville restaurant at the Flamingo since 2003.

“When I wrote the song ‘Margaritaville,’ I never envisioned it would be a successful piece of intellectual property,” Buffett told the commission. “It’s a pretty good song. It worked out.”

Commission Chairman Peter Bernhard said Buffett had been investigated just as thoroughly, if not more so, than other gaming license applicants.

“If you make a song about this experience, I hope it’s a positive one,” Gaming Commission member Tony Alamo said with a laugh.

The Margaritaville Biloxi held its second job fair yesterday, bringing the two-day total of job seekers to 4,000. The casino, scheduled to open the week of May 20, is looking to fill about 1,000 positions.

News 5 has a video report:

Couldn’t make one of the job fairs? You can apply for several positions online here.