Deputy Editor
Sam’s Town, the biggest casino still remaining in Tunica, closed its doors for the final time on Sunday night.
The closure did not come as a surprise, with news of it breaking in September. Owners Boyd Gaming blamed the move on “market conditions.” A statement from the company added that it “regretted” the closure, which it called “not an easy decision.”
“Demand throughout the northwest Mississippi market has declined significantly over the past 20 years, with several of Tunica’s original casinos closing since 2014,” the statement said. “Our decision to close Sam’s Town is a result of these market conditions and follows our best efforts to adjust the business to address lower demand.”
The closure of Sam’s Town, which had been open for 31 years, leaves just five casinos operating in the once-thriving Northern Mississippi locale.
Is the Clock Ticking on Tunica Poker?
Of the remaining Tunica casinos, only Horseshoe Tunica appears to still deal poker. Sam’s Town once boasted a 15-table poker room, but it has been closed since 2013.
Horseshoe Tunica still hosts popular poker tournaments, with RunGood Poker Series and the World Series of Poker Circuit continuing to make yearly stops.
That’s a far cry from the glory days, which saw the World Poker Tour stopping by for events that built prize pools in the millions of dollars. The old WSOPC events were far bigger as well. Daniel Negreanu once won a $10,000 event there for $755,525.
However, given the trajectory of Tunica’s casino industry, it’s fair to wonder how much longer even these smaller tournaments will continue operating there. Sam’s Town shutting down means the number of operational Tunica casinos has dropped by more than half. At its peak, the area was home to more than 10 casinos.
As Boyd hinted in its statement, industry trends have heavily conspired against places like Tunica.
The collection of casinos sits, isolated, against the banks of the Mississippi River, about 40 minutes by car from Memphis. When the casinos were built starting in the mid-1990s, it wasn’t easy to find casino gambling outside of Las Vegas. That made Tunica a unique draw. It became a top-three U.S. gambling destination along with Las Vegas and Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Widespread legalized gambling, including tribal properties in some states that otherwise outlaw casinos, has changed that landscape.
A dusty, out-of-the-way locale like Tunica was always an obvious candidate to lose market share in this new reality. Poker players in the South have been able to count on Tunica for action for decades. Now, they may be watching the continued slow demise of a regional poker hub.
Image credit: Alberto Cabello/Wikimedia Commons (license)
