BILOXI, Miss., Aug. 31 (UPI) -- Mississippi's 12 floating casinos, a major source of tax revenue for the state, were severely damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
The damage report has not been completed but a convention and visitors' bureau official said all of the floating casinos are likely to be heavily damaged or destroyed, the USA Today reported.
"It's devastating. It'll take months, if not years, to rebuild," he said.
On Sunday, the Mississippi Gaming Commission shut down all the casinos operating on the Gulf Coast before Katrina hit. But some of them were ripped loose from their moorings by the force of the storm surge.
Video footage showed a number of riverboat casinos sitting on roadways and Interstate highways.
The state's 30 casinos generate about $2.8 billion in revenue and account for more than $300 million in state and local tax revenues. The industry employs about 29,000 people in the state.
