![]() ![]() It's female-friendly, a little more formal than the standard Mississippi day-tripper place, and features a lot of extras like a day spa and a better-than-average steakhouse called Chicago. The Circus Circus chain eventually became Mandalay Bay, named after the chain's flagship hotel in Vegas, and the Gold Strike has much of the same Mandalay Bay feel. It's the only place in Tunica, in fact, where you can easily walk from one casino to another, which makes it ideal for the annual World Poker Tournament every January, second only to the World Series of Poker in prize money and prestige. The crowds in Casino Center are younger and a little better-dressed than elsewhere in Tunica, and it's known as the place to seek out table games and live action. On most nights this is the hottest place to gamble in the state. The following February saw the grand opening of the Horseshoe, and together, these three hotels formed a little cluster called Casino Center. The Gold Strike was originally called Circus Circus when it opened August 29, 1994, the same month as the nearby Sheraton. Apparently quite a few people besides me have discovered its quiet understated elegance and returned again and again. But it's been one of the most consistently profitable casinos in the whole region, with $134.8 million in revenues for the year 2000 and a hefty 30 percent growth in year-to-year earnings. The Gold Strike doesn't get as much attention as the two leaders in the market - the Grand and the Horseshoe. It's one of those places where you can totally shut out the world. ![]() "Put me up high," I told them, and they did - in a luxurious room by Mississippi standards, with a view of the river delta and a blow-your-face-off air conditioner that lulls you to sleep with white noise. There wasn't much going on in the dazzling marble lobby, with its art museum feel (no furniture!) and its mesmerizing water sculptures behind the check-in counter. I remember arriving there late on a weeknight, when the cicadas were roaring outside and there were gusts of hot air roaring up the river like exhaust fumes. ![]()
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