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Article Excerpt
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
The economic landscape of Mississippi has dramatically changed since gaming was legalized 16 years ago, and nowhere is that more apparent than in Tunica.
Sixteen years ago, Tunica County had only one stoplight and not a single four-lane highway. There were such high unemployment rates, substandard housing and a lack of essential services that Tunica was the subject of a "60 Minutes" episode on extreme poverty.
"We got a lot of attention in the mid-1980s when '60 Minutes' did an expose here," says Webster Franklin, president and CEO of the Tunica Convention and Visitors Bureau. "But that didn't provide jobs for citizens. The gaming industry was the first to come in and actually provide jobs for local citizens. About 16,000 jobs have been created in the past 16 years in Tunica."
There are now actually, more people working in the casino industry in Tunica County than live in the county, which has a population of approximately 12,000. And the benefits have stretched far beyond Tunica as casinos in the area have generated $1.2 billion in gaming revenues since gaming began.
"All 82 counties in Mississippi see the benefits of that," Franklin says. "The casinos have invested billions of dollars in new hotels, restaurants and other amenities. That has led to new housing developments. You have seen our small...
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