The Margaritaville "Casino & Restaurant" is a much smaller place than what was originally conceived. I drove right to the Grand Casino knowing that the Margaritaville was directly across the street from it on the beach where construction had begun several years ago. Sure enough, the steel girders and cement floors were all that were there! The rest of the construction site was abandon. No finished casino.

Then a spot a sign on a corner bench with an arrow that says "Margaritaville". So I turn inland until I hit Biloxi's "Back Bay" area. No other signs. So I turn west towards Boomtown and the IP. No casino. So I retrace my steps and hit traffic. I looked to the left and saw new sidewalks and freshly planted palm trees. At the end of the lonely little road sits a 2-story building that looks more like one of the beach restaurants here in Destin, Florida, than a casino. Sure enough, it's the Margaritaville.

No parking deck or hotel, just an open asphalt parking lot. There's nothing on the false first floor (probably stilts so it'll survive the next hurricane), only an escalator leading upstairs. It dumps you out into the middle of a small casino floor. There is 1 craps table and maybe 12 other table games -- the rest are slot machines. I didn't see any Player's Card windows and when I asked at the cage they said there were employees walking around the floor who could sign me up. When I found one of them all they were issuing were business card slips of paper as temporary players cards, so I passed. There's a big gift shop, small restaurant, and bar. That's it!

It's a very scaled back version of what they had originally started construction on at the beach location. The location is also terrible. After the newness wears off I don't see anyone playing there. It's got no hotel, isn't on the beach, isn't located near any other casino to attract foot traffic, and doesn't offer a variety of restaurants, shows, or other draws. I suspect it'll close up shop in 3-5 years. Glad I got some chips while I could.