Bally owed $3 million by Casino Owners

The Grand Station Casino in Vicksburg may go up for auction March 26 unless its owners resolve a $3 million claim from Bally Gaming Co.

Reports are that Bally is foreclosing on the casino for the $3 million owed for gambling equipment inside Grand Station and the gambling boat at City Front. The foreclosure was filed Feb. 29 in federal court in Jackson.

Grand Station is owned by Delta Investments and Development.

Grand Station marketing director Mickey Fedell said the action does not affect an adjoining hotel. Fedell said the company has no other comment.

Bally has never been an owner of any of the five Vicksburg casinos, but has sold gambling equipment.

Grand Station was Harrah’s when it opened in November 1993. Harrah’s became Horizon in 2003, and its owner sold to Delta Investments in 2010.

Bally, according to court records, agreed in 2011 to loan Delta $3 million to fund capital reserves, upgrade gaming equipment, upgrade casino computer systems and finance renovations to the casino.

Bally claims in court documents that Delta had not paid on the loan since Sept. 1, and owed Bally $491,837 in payments accrued from Sept. 1 until Jan. 20.

Delta Investments bought the former Horizon Casino from Tropicana Entertainment in December 2010 for $3.25 million in cash plus liabilities associated with the casino.

Among those was a promise to continue payments to the City of Vicksburg for City Front property, a 2.95-acre part of the public area by the Yazoo River Diversion Canal, plus the casino’s parking garages.

The city sold the property to Harrah’s when it built the casino and hotel in 1993. The public areas were leased back to the city for $1 a year.

Since the casino has been open, the city has received about $10.1 million from its owners.

Vicksburg Mayor Paul Winfield said the foreclosure should not affect the City Front payments to the city.

“We are going to get our money,” he said. “We are going to look out for the city’s rights.”

Allen Godfrey, executive director of the Mississippi Gaming Commission, said state officials were aware of the foreclosure. He said it could affect the casino’s future depending on the result of the dispute between Bally and Delta.

Grand Station is Vicksburg’s only downtown casino and was the second to open, as Harrah’s.