Tunica, Mississippi: Local, Friendly, Unpretentious Gambling

Of course, the center of the poker universe, and, to many in the gambling universe in general, is Las Vegas, Nevada. The lights of the strip, the guitar of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, it all combines to create an atmosphere of excitement and possibility. Fortunes are won and lost at an astounding rate.

But what about other destinations? Las Vegas is not the only city in the world where professional gamblers grind out a living, where high rollers bet the equivalent of a year’s GDP of some third world nations on a roll of the dice, where tourists arrive with high hopes and limited funds just to go home with empty pockets. Today we will begin exploring other gambling destinations, in a series of articles looking at various locales featuring casinos, both domestic and abroad.

So where do we start? How about Tunica, Misissippi? Al Pacino described Tunica in Ocean’s Thirteen as “that place where games go to die.” While I would never be so bold as to argue aloud with Mr. Pacino, I do believe Tunica deserves better billing than that.

Until the early 1990′s, Tunica, Mississippi was one of the most impoverished places in the United States. The only dubious claim to semi-fame the little southern town held was a neighborhood called Sugar Ditch Alley. The “sugar ditch” that was referenced was an open sewage line running alongside a local street.

All that changed with the introduction of the casino industry. Small casinos opened up in Mhoon Landing, what is presently known as North Tunica. They were a surprising success, and led to a financial boom for the town.

The smaller casinos soon were left behind. Casino builders located a town called Robinsonville. Located about 10 miles north of Tunica proper, this town offered a more building friendly location that was also closer to gamblers from Memphis. Robinsonville changed its name to Tunica Resorts in 2005, since all the casinos there were named for Tunica County. There smaller forerunners were forced to close or move as all the business went north.

So what was the result? Even though the casinos are 10 miles away, Tunica is still the county seat of the area, and still benefits greatly from the casinos. In fact, the area is billed as the third-largest gaming area in the United States, behind Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Not a bad rise in only 20 years, from dirt poor to the gambling Mecca of central North America.

So, I respectfully disagree with Mr. Pacino’s assessment. Sure, Tunica isn’t Las Vegas, but it is not the graveyard of gambling, either.