Posted By: Margaret Pozzini

Wed Nov 8, 3:58 PM ET

WAVELAND, Miss. - The $80 million Silver Slipper Casino opens to gamblers on Thursday, offering an old Vegas blend with contemporary stylings, says general manager John Ferrucci.
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"It's got a bit of Western flair, but not cowboy," said Ferrucci.

Crystal chandeliers eight feet wide hang over the table games from a barrel vault ceiling detailed with gold-leaf rosettes. The buffet is more casual, featuring wooden beams bowed like ribs and copper carved like flames.

The casino offers 20 times odds on craps bets. The buffet has a 1,000-pound smoker. And the entertainment bar has 11-foot television screens that drop down for football games and other sporting events.

The Silver Slipper will be the Gulf Coast's first land-based casino built from the ground up since the state allowed gambling to come ashore.

Ferrucci's 84-year-old aunt, Josephine Crawford, will lend the place a little good luck by being the first person to play a slot machine. Earlier this year, she won $10 million, the biggest jackpot in New Jersey history, on a nickel machine in Atlantic City.

Paul Alanis, the chairman of Silver Slipper Gaming, and business partner Loren Ostrow have been supervising the final details for the opening. They decided to increase the investment in the venture because of population shifts after Hurricane Katrina. Alanis said the casino is only a 21-minute drive from Slidell, La.

"Our target market doubled in population," Ferrucci said. "We've sent out 600,000 pieces of mail."

The casino has 26 table games, nine poker tables and 1,003 coinless slots. It employs more than 600 people.

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Information from: The Sun Herald, http://www.sunherald.com

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