Caesars to Shut Mississippi Casino in Sign of Saturated Industry

(Bloomberg) -- Caesars Entertainment Corp. is closing its Tunica Roadhouse Casino in Mississippi as it copes with a saturated gambling market.

The site will be shuttered at the end of January, while the adjacent hotel will stay open, the Las Vegas-based company said. The move will affect about 150 employees. Caesars will continue to operate the Horseshoe Tunica casino in that market.

While casino closings are rare, Caesars has shut underperforming sites in the past. And a more crowded industry means that gambling locations often aren’t sure-fire moneymakers. It closed the Showboat in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and the Harrah’s Tunica in 2014.

The Roadhouse Casino property was one of eight in the Tunica market and the smallest in terms of casino floor space, according to state gaming commission statistics.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Palmeri in Los Angeles at cpalmeri1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, Cecile Daurat

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