The Silver Slipper casino should be the model of how NOT to run a casino.



Pre-Katrina the owners of the President Casino in Biloxi, MS already had the Silver Slipper (barge) under construction and it was to be located in the Waveland area of MS. Lucky them as the President was destroyed by hurricane Katrina.



Now the marketing folks made a big deal of signing up for the Silver Slipper players club, etal on-line and you would get special status. Lots of promises. Sadly, no delivery.



As luck would have it, we visited the casino a few days after it opened.



What a total disappointment!!!



Let's forget, for the moment, that is out in NOWHEREVILLE!!!



Before leaving our home in Florida, we checked the Silver Slipper Website and and printed out the detailed driving directions found there. Right there was the first problem. Seems they left out a number. According to the PRINTED directions the casino was supposed to be something like .3 or .5 ,miles from the sign telling you to "turn here." It was one heck of a lot further. We kept driving and driving. We figured we missed something somewhere. Since it was a two lane road there were few opportunities to make a u-turn. Once we found a wide spot in the road and were ready to double-back, we [luckily] came across a sign for the casino.



Once we got there we found parking to be miserable!!! Very little paved area to park. The rest is sand and shell. We got lucky and found a spot not far from the entrance. There were security folks outside and present but not doing a very good job of directing folks to parking. The day was cold and blustery and that wasn't a thrill. Had we parked down a bit we would have gotten a nice sand whipping in our faces and lord knows what that would be doing to the paint on the car.



Once we got inside the casino we immediately went to the players club.



There was a sign directing us 'special folks' to a table that did have a computer and a card making machine but it was unmanned. We hung around for about 10 minutes and finally found someone to ask about some service. At that point we thought maybe the workers were on break or a nature call. No such luck. That table wouldn't be manned until about 11:00 a.m. or so and it was 9:00 a.m. then. We were ticked off. Had we got in the regular line, we would have finished our business and been on the floor playing. So, after another 20-minute wait we got our players cards and headed to the slots. At least that worker moved the sign so others wouldn't fall prey to it.



This gets better.



I placed my slot card in the normal way. That is with the hole for the cord out towards me. Nothing registered. Slot after slot, NOTHING or an error message appeared. Headed back to the player's club line which is now longer than before. This isn't going to work. Luckily, the lady who issued my card was stationed at the far left of the counter and when she was through with the patron she was serving I got her attention and complained. She stated "oh, you have to REVERSE the card." Thanks for telling me that up-front you dummy!!! Right now I am not in a great mood.



The slots were cold as ice. Now I generally like to play the tables but decided to start on the slots to see how the point system worked. While I don't recall right now how that casino does it (and I really don't care as I'll never re-visit the property), it certainly wasn't like the old President. The President was my most favorite casino in all of Biloxi which made my mood all the more dour.



Played for about 1/2 hour and never once did I hear or see a beverage server. I needed a hot coffee and a brandy to help me remove the chill I still had from the lousy weather outside so I headed to the tables thinking that the cocktail folks generally cover them like a blanket.



While I was scouting the tables, my wife came up to me and said "let's go!" This woman is a commensurate slot player. When she says "let's go" or "we're outta here" I know the slots are horrible w/o having to ask.



So, off to cash in my slot ticket I had in my shirt pocket.



Stood in line at the cashier and stood in line and stood there some more. Great!!! The computers are down! Mind you, this is about the 4th day they were open. Everything should be perfect. One lousy computer was up and running and the line was growing and growing.



I have to say the inside the casino is nice and it is tastefully appointed. Nicely lit as well. But it is brand new so one shouldn't expect less. We did not stay to eat so I can't rate the food. The casino, itself, was a lot smaller than I expected it to be and it has far too many video type slots than I like. But I guess that is the current rage and wave of the future. Give me a traditional 3-reeler any day - at least I don't need to wear my computer glasses to play them.