ECONOMIC EFFECT
Gary Thomas has owned Goldie’s Express restaurant in Vicksburg since 1991, just before casinos became a significant aspect. For 23 years, Thomas has been an essential part of the food scene in Vicksburg, and he and his business have experienced both ups and downs as a result of the influx of casinos over the past two decades.
Thomas has experienced a sweep of competition between other restaurants since the casinos came onto the scene in the early 1990s.
“When you have the casinos in town, we have four, there’s just a lot of competition there,” Thomas said. “It’s a big draw with all the big lights and the décor.”
However, Thomas hasn’t encountered any problems with his business and the casinos.
“To be honest, I don’t really experience any competition with the casinos, and I never have,” Thomas said.
In fact, Thomas has become close with the casinos’ owners and has seen growth in the catering aspect of his restaurant since the casinos have sprouted in Vicksburg.
“I have a working relationship with most of the management, to where if they want to do something with an outside catering company, I’m pretty high on the list of choices,” Thomas said.
George Flaggs Jr. has held the position of mayor of Vicksburg since 2013, and also believes casinos have greatly aided in the business that Vicksburg receives.
“The community has embraced casinos,” Flaggs said, “and we’ve been able to include casinos as a part of the marketing strategy for this city.”
Mayor Flaggs estimates that between 800 and one million people visit Vicksburg’s National Military Park each day, and is thankful that casinos have popped up in the city to help those people visit other aspects of Vicksburg.
“They may not come and go to casinos, they may just come and go to the National Military Park,” Flaggs said. “We’re trying to capitalize on that by creating some other avenues where they can visit.”
Flaggs hopes this will aid in the sales tax revenue.
Laura Beth Strickland, the Communications Manager for the city of Vicksburg is ecstatic that casinos have been a part of the city, as they have helped to create a variety of jobs.
“In the tourism industry we have 4,000 jobs,” Strickland said, “and Ameristar Casino has 1,000 jobs in total.”
Since his business began in 1991, Gary Thomas has stayed true to Vicksburg, even with the addition of the casinos, which he believes have never been a problem for Goldie’s.
“The old stay and the strong survive,” Thomas said, “and I really don’t think that the casinos have affected anybody in the wrong way.”
(Taylor Lust and Anna McCollum)