Biloxi, May 2026

It had been a long time since we'd been to Biloxi, the only air packages still available (Beau Rivage) are inordinately expensive (nothing playable at the Beau anyway) and other flight options are lousy. So, we decided to do a road trip, a leisurely one, breaking up the drive into two days each way. We stayed at Treasure Bay for three nights, it's a few miles west of town but has been our favorite Biloxi property (and currently the only one with halfway playable games). It was a fun trip overall, hell of a long drive, though. Lots of good food, nice hotel with a balcony overlooking the Gulf. Gambling could have been better, Linda was down only $16 for the trip but I got beaten up (underquadded, and no premium quads), finished down $964. Total action was about $27.3K, for a loss of 3.6%, not good. Also annoying that the TB hosts can't comp anything at all, the only comps available come from mailers. 

SUNDAY 

Easy and somewhat boring, long (I think about 3200 bottles of beer on the wall) drive up I-75 and across I-10.  Lots of gnats along the way, oddly enough. We stayed overnight in Marianna, about 50mi west of Tallahassee. It's surprising, there are far fewer independent restaurants in the small rural towns than there were years ago, it's almost all chain restaurants and fast food and the occasional taco truck. The only dinner option in town for us was Jim's Buffet and Grill, a friendly place with adequate but greasy food. 

MONDAY 

We finished the last 250mi and checked in at Treasure Bay, kind of a slow process. One problem was that we had emailed a host before the trip, who naturally couldn't do anything with our room rate up front since we hadn't played here in about 8 years but said that a host could review our play at the end of the trip. A supervisor at the front desk, however, said that we'd need to pay for the room up front and that nothing could be comped after the fact no matter how much we played. Pissed me off, but not a lot of options. Anyway, got a nice room with a great Gulf view. Played mostly 50¢ and $1 8/5 BP with some Illinois Deuces mixed in. Did pretty poorly today. Dinner was good, though, we went to Felix's in Gulfport, an outpost of the venerable oyster bar in New Orleans. Nice ambience and very good food overall, terrific big Louisiana oysters. We had some raw, some Rockefeller (terrific), some Bienville (pretty good), also great seafood gumbo, some fried alligator, stuffed redfish. Not as good as the NOLA store but still a great dinner for anywhere else. Back to TB, had a few more shit sessions then bedtime. 

TUESDAY 

Had to take a marker this morning, which took almost a half hour since someone screwed up processing my credit application. First session was a roller coaster, lost quickly and was bailed out close to zero with a quad and some FHs. Took a walk down to the beach, saw some Canada geese, that was a surprise. Had a couple of good sessions before lunch, which was at the Half Shell Oyster House back in town (I really wanted to get my fill of Gulf Coast food this trip). Pretty similar to last night's dinner, had raw and grilled oysters, gumbo, a catfish po’ boy. All excellent, really happy with this restaurant. Back to TB, not a great afternoon in the casino. Dinner was at one of my favorites, Mary Mahoney's, a real classic and the quintessential Gulf Coast restaurant, been there since 1964 (in a beautifully preserved home built in the 1730s). So much history here. Had grilled oysters, some gumbo (yeah, getting repetitious), seafood-stuffed tripletail, a twice-baked potato, all top quality and perfectly prepared. Back to TB, had an ultimately losing roller-coaster session (Linda got a SF, she did better than I), then bedtime. 

WEDNESDAY

Quick walk on the beach, and the morning started with a winning BP session, but unfortunately went downhill from there. We played some blackjack, it's been years for me and I'm pretty out of practice but they have a good $5 shoe game (6 decks with good penetration, S17, DAS, RSA; they also have a $15 DD game with the same rules) which seemed like a good opportunity to start getting back up to speed. Lots of fun, and the first shoe was plenty juicy, but I wound up losing anyway. Linda did better, broke even. Next two VP sessions (BP, then Illinois Deuces) were awful, but at least Linda got the quad aces for $200. So, time to drown my sorrows in TB's previously excellent buffet, featuring good Gulf Coast food and Dungeness crab legs. Had to pay retail, unfortunately, I was again told that the hosts can't comp anything at all and if you want anything you need to pay with points (or maybe there will be mailers; we'll see). So, retail it was. And a great buffet it was as well:  good quality Dungeness and snow crab legs, lots of good Southern and Creole food. Back to the casino, and a few more losing sessions but ultimately had a breakeven deuces session and a last winner on DB. 

THURSDAY 

It took a half hour to pay off my markers this morning, the cashier and the cage supervisor both said that they had never had anyone pay markers with a check, that people always paid with cash (which seems to defeat the purpose of a line of credit). Anyway, we got that sorted out. Quick walk down to the beach, then got packed, played off our FP, got on the road. Lunch was at the Magnolia Blossom Cafe, about 7 miles off the highway in Robertsdale AL, an unassuming country restaurant in farm country. They had a lunch buffet with a lot of Southern staples, everything was perfectly prepared, some of the best Southern food I've ever had, hell of a pleasant surprise. Back on the road, long drive to Madison FL, stayed at the Best Western. Linda wanted to watch the hockey game and Google Maps listed two alleged sports bars. One was a gas station that sold beer, the other was a bar in the middle of nowhere, about 5 miles south of town, Rockin’ Wheels. Very locals’ place, right down to the Joe Biden sticker in the urinal, but super friendly and welcoming. One smart TV, one of the customers was able to sign in to a streaming account and get the game. The owner was a real estate developer from Connecticut, said he was involved with some big deals in south Florida, including a sale of the Fontainebleau, wanted to get away from city life. Who would have figured? They had some food, pretty much whatever the owner wants to cook that day; today it was ribs, and they were excellent. Back to the motel, last long drive tomorrow. 

FRIDAY 

Uneventful drive home, more traffic than before but nothing terrible. 

It was a fun and interesting trip overall, in spite of the losses and the lack of comps. Hell of a long drive, though. We'll see what sort of mailers we get from TB, if any, and maybe we'll revisit air options for next time. Road trips are always an eye opener, though, maybe we'll do it again, maybe via the coast road or the old US routes instead of interstate. Thanks for reading! 

Appreciate the trip report.   Glad you had a great time, just sucks that the hosts couldn't hook you up with any comps. 

I would have predicted the various features of your trip: boring drive to get there (along the Panhandle, next time, take the coast road(s), not the interstate), shitty gambling, NO DEALS FOR YOU, PEASANT, generally bad customer service experience, great food, nice ambiance, great food (that needs to be restated), and hopefully, maybe, maybe, your play will generate some future offers.

Biloxi is an area where I would be too distracted by the various attractions to want to do much gambling. And I would be stuffing my face constantly. I would gain twenty pounds in one weekend.

Terrific TR, jstewa22.  Appreciate the food reviews, since I and some cronies will be in Biloxi early June, with one couple celebrating their 50th.  Husband isn't a gambler, but I know he likes seafood of all kinds.

Hope you see some offers roll in.  Sorry they wouldn't comp anything, but maybe that means you didn't lose your shirts too badly.

Thanks again!

Candy

Which reinforces my contention that the best way to visit that area is to see all the sights, gorge on seafood, and pretend that the casinos don't exist.

It's been amazing to me that the non-Vegas casino areas have embraced The Gouge even more enthusiastically than Vegas has. For decades, their supposed allure was that they were better deals, friendlier, offered better gambling, etc. And that was true for a good while. Not now, though!

Candy, if you haven't done it already, I recommend taking the boat out to the island fortress outside Mobile (Fort Mobile?). Nice trip, lots of history.

Thanks, guys.  Yeah, lots of competing food and tourism options in Biloxi.  And I guess The Gouge is everywhere; every casino in Biloxi used to have decent VP and BJ and good promos, now the only playable VP is at Treasure Bay and IP (but that's Boyd).  We'll see what kind of offers we generate.  I'm not sure what hosts do with their time when they can't issue any discretionary comps (isn't CET like that?), I guess they mostly need to sit in the office and look pretty.

Candy, if you do one nicer meal in Biloxi, you'll probably want to do Mary Mahoney's, it's a real classic.  Lots of other good options as well:  Half Shell Oyster House (the one on Lemeuse where we ate; there's another one in Hard Rock that people say isn't good), McElroy's, The Reef (touristy but solid).  Desporte is a very old seafood market with some quirky but good local food; Rosetti's is supposed to be similar (haven't been there yet).  People also say Mignon's at The Palace is the best steakhouse in town, if you're in the mood.

Thanks, jstewa22.   I was looking at Half Shell House online.  Good reviews but not specific to which one.  We did Mary Mahoney's a trip or three ago.  That night the steak was the most pleasing; overall kind of disappointed otherwise, but that happens.  I think we over-expected.

We almost don't go anywhere there isn't a charter...flight/rooms/Free Play...anymore.  That's what Hosts do...arrange those charters, show tickets, etc.  They can be accessed other ways also, but our Host adds $100 a day resort credit to ours, which wouldn't happen otherwise.   Long time Beau players, same Host.  We pray she doesn't retire.

They've redone the High Limit room at Beau with a lot of multi-game VP machines.  3 Card Poker is usually $15 minimum bet, occasionally $10.  Lots of Blackjack of many variations.  Hard Rock always has $5 min High Card Flush and 3 Card Poker, both which I like to play, but dang it is hard to win on those as well!  They've all figured out how to rig every game, I'm convinced, even at low minimums.

Kevin, thanks for the boat to island fortress suggestions.  I'll check those out.

Edited to add:  The Beau still has a buffet, and most days it is  pretty darned good, though higher priced of course than before.  I don't know about the other casinos in Biloxi re buffets.

Candy

Candy, they don't need to rig those games; those games have an inherent house advantage that is absolutely crushing. Furthermore, much of the payout is tied up in rare hands, so while waiting for those hands to arrive, you quickly bleed out.

As I tell any recreational gambler, you need to wean yourself away from those games. I don't enjoy them at all, because I know that it's like handing someone a $100 bill and they hand back $97, then you hand them that $97 and they give you $94, etc.etc., repeat until broke. That it's actually more "choppy" than that doesn't alter the fact that that's what's really happening.

I realize that what I just said falls on deaf ears. 🙄

This is a quick followup about Beau Rivage in Biloxi.  Four of us, BFF and I and Brenda and George, who were celebrating their 50th for a three night charter deal.  Free flights and rooms for all, some Free Play and some food credits.  George isn't a gambler by any stretch but enjoyed putting a few coins in on VP alongside of us.  Unfortunately he accidently pushed the Max Bet button which wiped out his $20.  But being the super easy going guy he is (what a blessing!), it didn't break his trip spirit.  He and Brenda when to a Shuckers baseball game one evening, which he considered the highlight of the trip for him.  Brenda and I walked down to Hardrock to play their $5 High Card Flush table.  Funny, those low limit tables never seem to pay very much.  We weren't there long.  My Host put $100 a day food credit on my room.  This enabled me to cover six morning buffets and three evening meals in the cafe for Brenda and George and me.  Our last meal was the Teppanyaki Experience at Jai, the Asian resturant.  I didn't have enough to cover them at the Teppanyaki, but they were so appreciative of what I did cover, and Brenda had some comps to use.  The Tepp was a ton of fun and very good food wise. 

Brenda and I enjoyed a lot of 3 Card Poker and VP at the Beau.  We all lost some of our money, of course, though Brenda and I both came home with over half of our stake, which is all I we ever hope for.   BFF played her usual all in at Dragon Link.

Thanks for reading.  I didn't have much of y'alls interest other than maybe the baseball game and the Teppanyaki dinner, so I didn't start my own TR.  Apologies to jstewa22 for glomming onto his last TR!!

Candy

Thanks for the report, Candy.  Glad that you all had a great time.  I would have enjoyed the ball game as well.  Congrats to your friends on the milestone anniversary.