President Casino Broadwater Resort - End

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In January 2005, Broadwater Development LLC – a casino holding company owned by two local construction figures, Roy Anderson III and Cotton Fore – won a bankruptcy auction bid for the casino and resort for $82 million, amid speculation that they had overpaid. Anderson said of the barge, "It's a nice structure. But overall aesthetically, it's not going to fit into our master plan." On April 15, 2005, the deal closed; as part of it, the President Casino barge was purchased for $6.8 million by Silver Slipper Casino Venture LLC with the intention of operating it under the name of President Casino until it could be moved to their site in Hancock County, Mississippi, where the Silver Slipper operators thought it would fit in. On July 31, 2005, the Broadwater Beach Resort closed its doors, with Broadwater Development announcing plans to tear it down and build a new resort and casino.

Less than a month later, on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina tore the casino barge from its moorings and washed it ashore ½ mile west of the Broadwater Resort Marina. The barge was a total loss, it was cut up as scrap and removed by a salvage company. (The new Silver Slipper Casino would be built from the ground up instead and open in late 2006.) The hotel in the resort part was still standing but heavily damaged by Katrina, with the storm surge reaching the second floor. The famed sign was destroyed. The marina too was wrecked and closed. The golf course did not reopen. The hotel subsequently underwent demolition, which concluded by November 2006 with even the foundation slabs removed.

Once the post-Katrina building boom began, the Broadwater site increased in value and several other casino operations indicated an interest in it. In March 2006, Broadwater Development LLC gained city approval for creating The Broadwater resort, a $1 billion plan that would feature two casinos, 3,375 condo units, 1,900 hotel rooms, an 18-hole golf course, large amounts of retail entertainment space and convention space, and a marina again. By September 2007, the Broadwater developers said they were closing to signing with an international entertainment corporation to begin the work, and the Biloxi Planning Commission granted them an 18-month extension. But by October 2008, the global financial crisis had prevented anything from happening, and the Mississippi Gaming Commission gave an indefinite extension to the Broadwater site approval.