HARD ROCK BILOXI PARENT FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY

Premier Entertainment Biloxi LLC, the parent company of the under-construction Hard Rock Biloxi Hotel & Casino, filed for bankruptcy last week. The move, company officials said, was made in order to gain access to insurance payments that allegedly have been blocked by the company's bondholders.

By acquiring the $160 million insurance proceeds, Premier Entertainment Biloxi would be able to continue to rebuild the property, as well as settle debts to its creditors, company Chairman Lawrence Hershfield said in a statement.

"The board of the company has concluded that the quickest way to get access to our cash is to use a bankruptcy reorganization process," Hershfield said.

The Hard Rock Biloxi was 13 days away from its grand opening when Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Mississippi Gulf Coast last year, destroying the Hard Rock's gaming barge and causing significant damage to the property's hotel and entertainment facilities. In the bankruptcy filing, Premier Entertainment Biloxi claims the company's bondholders are refusing to allow the company to utilize the insurance proceeds collected after the storm. Bondholders have asserted that Premier is in default for not having the property open and operating by Dec. 31.

LUK Ranch Entertainment, a subsidiary of Leucadia National Corp., acquired an interest in Premier Entertainment Biloxi in April and had made numerous offers to bondholders, but none was accepted, the bankruptcy motion claims.

Premier Entertainment Biloxi officials said the company has a responsibility to its vendors and creditors, and won't support action in which those responsibilities aren't met.

"Every legal action this company has taken since Katrina has been with a view of allowing vendors to get paid. This action is no different," Joe Billhimer, president of Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Biloxi told Southern Mississippi's Clarion-Ledger.

Mississippi Gaming Commission Executive Director Larry Gregory said he didn't foresee the bankruptcy filing to alter Premier Entertainment Biloxi's plans to reopen by the third quarter of 2007.

"This is not anything for anyone to have concerns about," he told the paper. "It's a reorganization and a mechanism to get the project on track without being tied up in the federal court system. I think the state will be better off by having the casino rebuilt and all the vendors getting paid."