Small beach town in Mississippi is silently turning into the ‘Vegas of the South’

A coastal Mississippi town of 48,000 has earned its new status as the ‘Vegas of the South’ by offering entertainment, casinos… and some big winners. 

Biloxi sits right on the Gulf of Mexico – or as President Donald Trump declared it: The Gulf of America – not far from the famed New Orleans. 

Most wouldn’t think a town that is 13 times smaller than Vegas’ population would take on the mantle of the South’s Sin City, but the town of nearly 50,000 shares many of the same qualities as Las Vegas. 

With its resort-friendly atmosphere, a growing number of casinos, and similar attractions without the dry desert, some might be fooled that the small Mississippi town was, indeed, the real thing. 

‘It’s a major thorn [in Vegas’] side,’ Jack Boswell, of Florida, told the DailyMail.com. ‘It’s only going to get bigger.’ 

Boswell visits Biloxi nearly monthly to gamble at the Beau Rivage Casino, where he’s won the jackpot five times, and to enjoy the relaxing nature of the Mississippi town that is only three and a half hours away from his Panama City Beach home. 

‘Vegas has had to reinvent itself,’ he said. ‘People don’t have to leave their homes to [gamble anymore].’ 

He also loves the small beach town because of its layback vibes. 

‘You’re not so in the energy of getting lost in everything around you [like Vegas],’ he told DailyMail.com in a phone interview. ‘Southern hospitality keeps everyone coming back.’  

Boswell, alongside Jay Dupuis, who is performing a Elvis impersonation show at the Hard Rock Café, believe the coastal destination deserves the moniker. 

‘Oh yeah, absolutely,’ Dupuis told the DailyMail.com. ‘It’s a small, small version, but I can see why people would say that.’ 

Dupuis, who had a residency in Vegas in 2015 and 2016, especially believes the Hard Rock Café in Biloxi ‘feels like Vegas.’

‘I love it,’ he said. 

He’s been performing as Elvis full-time since 2011 and even became Graceland-approved as the ultimate impersonator. 

Since then, Dupuis started doing his show at the Hard Rock Café in Biloxi around a year ago after the casino’s talent team reached out to him and he performs several times a year. 

The Louisiana native has seen tourism growing in the area and watches his 2,000-seat show continuously fill up. 

‘The crowds are getting bigger and bigger,’ the father-of-two, who currently resides in the UK, told the DailyMail.com. ‘The Hard Rock is always packed… Great entertainers coming in and out of there.’ 

And the casino not only provides a Vegas feel but local eats.  

Like many other cities, the Hard Rock Café in Biloxi features a menu that gives visitors a taste of the region’s amazing seafood options, such as salmon, according to Islands, a travel guide website.

However, Biloxi’s Beau Rivage Resort and Casino is its main attraction, having ranked the eighth best casino in the US, a local paper the Hudson Reporter found, using Tripadvisor and Google ratings and monthly search volume. 

It is also the biggest hotel-casino outside of Nevada.  

‘I’ve played at casinos all over the United States and even in the UK and the Beau Rivage is my favorite casino out of any of them because everybody is so friendly and they have good benefits for players,’ one person wrote on Tripadvisor. 

‘A lot of fun. There’s plenty to do even on a budget,’ another wrote. 

‘It is a mini Vegas,’ Mary Cracchiolo, the casino’s director of communications, told the DailyMail.com. ‘It has all the energy of Vegas.’ 

However, Cracchiolo said the Beau Rivage has many opportunities Sin City just can’t give you, such as the option to fish, boat, swim, lounge on a beach, and eat great seafood. 

Due to Mississippi law, the resort has to have equal space of non-gambling activities as it does for places to bet, and Cracchiolo said they MGM-owned resort – which also owns Vegas properties – isn’t trying to compete with Sin City. 

‘It’s a different experience,’ she told the DailyMail.com, saying there’s plenty to do that ‘you can’t really do anywhere else.’ 

The Beau Rivage has a ‘Vegas mentality’ and a ‘great vibe,’ but with all the ‘Southern hospitality’ one would expect for the area, according to Cracchiolo. 

And it does follow the ‘Nevada model’ with its 12 percent tax on gambling, making it easier for companies to want to work with them, she said.  

The casino also has plenty of big winners coming out of it too, including Boswell. 

Angela Lacey, of Florence, took home nearly $164,000 in December at Beau Rivage Resort while playing a 10-cent denomination Ultimate Fire Link slot machine, according to The Sun Herald. 

It was the ninth jackpot win over $100,000 at the casino and around 20 other jackpots were won in neighboring casinos in the town in 2024, according to The Sun Herald. 

Boswell won $122,000 in November while trying his luck at a Buffalo Cash slot game around 2am. He had only been playing for 40 minutes when he won. 

‘I kind of forget what I was doing,’ he told the DailyMail.com about the moment he got lucky. He had been playing the slot machine while observing a women nearby who was laughing. Suddenly, he won. 

‘Isn’t that crazy?’ he told DailyMail.com. In total, Boswell believes he won more than $200,000 at the Beau Rivage just in jackpots. 

He used his latest wins to buy an investment home in Alabama, which already had tenants before he was even done fixing it up.  

The Mississippi Gaming Commission recently approved for another casino to come to Biloxi in December of last year, paving the way for the Tullis Hotel and Casino. 

Across 300 rooms and a 53,280-square-foot casino floor, the Tullis will also sport multiple restaurants.

Unlike Vegas, which is landlocked, Biloxi has plenty of coastal activities to participate in when the wallet gets too light in the casinos. 

The town boasts an art museum, a waterpark, a baseball team and more. 

It also has several white sand beaches to enjoy with 62 miles of coastline along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. 

Riverboats and charter boats are also available to explore the area by water, so what happens in Biloxi, may not stay there as visitors might end up on a Mississippi adventure.

‘The food is phenomenal,’ Boswell told DailyMail.com, saying the shrimp in the area is ‘incredible.’ 

Visitors can even go on a shrimping trip while in town. 

‘Shrimping and seafood is a very big part of the culture here,’ Cracchiolo said. ‘What we enjoy is a lot of outdoor activities.’ 

Cracchiolo said there’s plenty of entertainment opportunities for those who don’t want to lighten their coffers at the gambling houses, including water activities, museums and more. 

‘I think that makes us difference,’ she told the DailyMail.com.