Mississippi Gulf Coast Casinos Secure Another Tidelands Dispute Legal Victory
Posted on: May 13, 2025, 08:33h.
Last updated on: May 13, 2025, 09:08h.
- Mississippi tidelands on private property aren’t owned by the state, another court ruling has found
- Tidelands are lands covered and uncovered daily by tidal water
- The latest court ruling could allow new casinos to come to Biloxi
State judges in Mississippi continue to side with Gulf Coast casinos in their belief that the state doesn’t own local tidelands adjoined to their resort properties.
Last Friday, Harrison Chancery Court Judge Jim Persons ruled in favor of Harrah’s Gulf Coast Hotel & Casino Biloxi in its case against Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson. Persons decided that a small parcel of waterfront land located on the Biloxi Bay just west of Oak St. is fully owned by the casino.
Watson had argued that the tidelands property in question, measuring about 1.5 acres, is state-controlled. The state secretary’s attorneys alleged that tidelands along the Gulf of America were provided to Mississippi when the state was formed under the 1784 Spanish Land Grant.
Persons cited the Mississippi Supreme Court’s March 2023 opinion that the state doesn’t have legal rights to claim tidelands included in a property owner’s lot. Tidelands are lands that are covered and uncovered daily by water from the action of tides, up to the mean line of the ordinary high tide.
Critical Rulings
The Mississippi Supreme Court and Persons rulings have twofold consequences, both in favor of casinos and future gaming projects.
The Supreme Court’s ruling cleared the way for proposed land-based casino developments to apply for state-issued gaming licenses from the Mississippi Gaming Commission (MGC). Watson has been criticized for trying to use public tidelands to stand in the way of new casino developments at the lobbying request of the current casinos that say Biloxi has reached a market saturation point.
After Hurricane Katrina rattled Gulf Coast riverboats and caused severe damage, state lawmakers allowed casinos to move inland with brick-and-mortar facilities, so long as the new gaming structures remain within 800 feet of the 19-year mean high water line — or the intersection of land and the water surface of the average of all high water observations.
The casinos took advantage of the land-based opportunities, but were required to continue paying tidelands leases to the state despite no longer utilizing the shoreland. Last year, Harrah’s paid about $700K into the Tidelands Trust Fund Program, a state program that began in 1994 that is to “carry out state policy by balancing the interests of upland private property owners and the general public over the use of public trust tidelands and submerged land of the State of Mississippi.”
The Supreme Court’s decision that local government — not the state — has the authority and responsibility to lease out tidelands provides footing for two proposed casinos to move forward.
Casino Proposals
Last December, the MGC signed off on the Tullis Garden Hotel and Casino application. Tennessee businessman Israel Schwartz has pitched an 11-story, 300-room hotel and casino with 900 slots, 35 table games, and a sportsbook. The development is to be complemented by a full-scale replica of the Tullis-Toledano Manor, the historic Greek Revival mansion that was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
Schwartz’s 35-acre property, located just west of Harrah’s at 360 Beach Blvd., doesn’t have waterfront access, but the Biloxi City Council has agreed to lease the tidelands to satisfy the 800-foot mean high water line condition.
Just steps from the Tullis Garden Casino site is where local developer Danny Conwill wants to build a 1,300-room hotel and casino with 2,00 slots, 75 tables, and a sportsbook. The city has agreed to a public tidelands lease there, too, but in exchange for a public handicap-accessible pier.
About five miles west along the Gulf, Ray Wooldridge and his RW Development have proposed a casino at his Big Play Entertainment Center. Woolridge has also agreed to build a pier in exchange for a local tidelands lease.
No comments yet