Crab Legs, Crawfish, And Comebacks: A Weekend In Biloxi

I sometimes have the tendency to repeat the same trips year after year, which goes completely against what my social media pages are dedicated to. I’m a creature of habit, and as much as I love casino trips to Las Vegas, Reno, Phoenix, and New Mexico, a change of scenery is nice every once in a while.

For the past month or so, I had been craving shrimp, crawfish, crab legs, and blackjack — and really, the only place in the country where all four come together perfectly is the Gulf Coast. So I picked up a rental car and made the trek down south to indulge in all of the above over a long weekend.

Stop Number 1: Island View Casino Resort

If you’ve ever been to a casino before — which I’m willing to bet you have if you’re reading this — you know casinos typically aren’t big on windows. But when you have million-dollar beach views like Island View does, hiding them would almost feel criminal.

Island View is made up of two casino floors connected by a skybridge over the street. The original Island View casino is the older, darker floor located farther inland, while the Beach View casino sits right on the water with sweeping views of the gulf.

Honestly, it’s kind of a slot player’s dream. Where else can you play slots on a non-smoking casino floor while staring out at the ocean?

Table games players, though … not quite the same story.

Blackjack conditions here are pretty rough. All of the blackjack tables on the Beach View side pay 6:5, and only about half of the tables on the Island View side pay 3:2. During my visit, craps was also only available on the Island View side.

During my short visit to Island View Casino Resort, table limits were set at $5 for Mississippi Stud, $10 for 6-deck 3:2 blackjack, 6-deck 6:5 blackjack, double-0 roulette, craps, Ultimate Texas Hold’em (UTH), and Three Card Poker (TCP), and $15 for Fortune Pai Gow Poker.

Stop Number 2: Silver Slipper Casino Hotel

It was around dinner time, and I had been saving my appetite for the first of several crab buffets I’d be attacking on this trip. When in Rome, right?

I walked into Silver Slipper with a very specific game plan: Eat seafood, then win the cost of the buffet back at the tables.

Simple enough in theory.

I proceeded to eat so many crab legs, crawfish, and shrimp that by the end of the meal, I was genuinely questioning every life decision that led me to that exact moment. All in all, the damage came to around $60 after tip.

Naturally, I went straight from the buffet to the sink to wash my hands and then to the blackjack table.

I proceeded to lose almost everything I bought in for. Suddenly, my $60 buffet had become a $260 buffet. Things got desperate enough that I eventually went all-in on a double-for-less, caught an ace on my 11, and somehow survived when the dealer busted.

From there, I went on an absolute heater.

Playing $15 a hand heads-up with the dealer, I clawed my way all the way back past my goal, essentially getting paid to eat hundreds of dollars worth of crab legs.

Quite the successful dinner trip.

Table limits at Silver Slipper on a Friday night were $5 for UTH and TCP, $10 for 6-deck 3:2 blackjack and Mississippi Stud, $15 for 10x odds craps, and $25 for double-deck 3:2 blackjack.

Stop Number 3: Treasure Bay Casino and Hotel

Treasure Bay is the fun little dive-bar casino of Biloxi — the kind of place where value-driven table games and a community atmosphere still exist in a coastline full of polished mega-resorts.

It was here that I settled into one of my longest sessions of the trip on a double-deck blackjack table, my personal favorite kind of game.

Unfortunately, the table games sat close enough to Treasure Bay’s seafood buffet that the smell of crab legs and shrimp constantly drifted over the pit. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t mind. Tonight, after the amount of seafood I had consumed in the last 24 hours, I would’ve preferred literally any other smell on Earth.

I played for around three hours until nearly 1 a.m. and left marginally up — which, after how badly gambling went for me during my April Las Vegas trip, felt like a massive victory.

I’m always shocked by how many different table games Treasure Bay manages to squeeze onto such a small, maze-like casino floor. The slot machines are packed in tightly, and every corner seems to have another game hiding around it.

Treasure Bay also has some of the best blackjack conditions in the area: a double-deck game where you can re-split aces and the dealer stands on soft 17. At first glance, you might not think much of this property, but once you dig into the table game rules and overall value, Treasure Bay quietly becomes one of the biggest winners on the coast.

Table limits this night included $5 TCP, Let It Ride, Fortune Pai Gow Poker, double-0 roulette, Mississippi Stud, and UTH; $10 for 6-deck 3:2 blackjack, 10x odds craps, High Card Flush, and 3-Card Blackjack; and $15 for single-deck 6:5 blackjack and double-deck 3:2 blackjack.

Stop Number 4: Scarlet Pearl Casino Resort

It was almost 2 a.m. when I got to Scarlet Pearl, the hotel I was staying at during my time in Biloxi. By the time I finally made it back to explore the casino floor for the first time, things had mostly cleared out.

Admittedly, Scarlet Pearl was never a casino I spent much time at in the past due to its relatively isolated location across the bay from the rest of Biloxi’s resorts, even though it’s really only about a six-minute drive from Beau Rivage. I wanted to change that this trip, so I booked my stay here.

I ended up getting upgraded to a top-floor room with a great view of the bay. From my window, I could even spot Palace, Boomtown, and IP — three casinos I’d be visiting the next day.

Much of the casino floor was pretty quiet at 2 a.m., although the Asian noodle restaurant was strangely packed. Scarlet Pearl still had a respectable number of table games open this late, though a few were shutting down during my walkthrough.

Table limits that night were set at $5 for Criss Cross Poker, $10 for 6-deck 3:2 blackjack, I Luv Suits, and 10x odds craps, $15 for Fortune Pai Gow Poker, double-0 roulette, and UTH, and $25 for double-deck 3:2 blackjack and baccarat.

Stop Number 5: Beau Rivage

Beau Rivage is arguably Biloxi’s nicest casino, as well as MGM’s only remaining resort in the South now that Gold Strike Tunica was sold to the Cherokee Nation.

I wanted to start my Saturday morning here before the table limits climbed too high, so I sat down for some blackjack and tossed a few bets on the day’s MLB games.

Blackjack didn’t exactly go according to plan, although I showed far more restraint than I had during my Vegas trip a month earlier. I colored up with around 60% of my original buy-in after tipping the dealer, which honestly wasn’t terrible considering how unbelievably card-dead I was toward the end of the session.

My sports bets, meanwhile, were dead within the first game of each parlay. Classic.

People call Beau Rivage “Mini Bellagio,” and once you walk through the property, it’s easy to understand why. From the exterior architecture to the interior décor, it feels like a scaled-down version of Bellagio (see photo at top of article). The place is pure luxury, and I’m dying to stay there someday.

Around noon on a Saturday, table limits were set at $10 for 6-deck 6:5 blackjack, UTH, TCP, Mississippi Stud, and Crazy 4 Poker; $15 for double-0 roulette and 6-deck 3:2 blackjack; and $25 for 1-deck 6:5 blackjack, double-deck 3:2 blackjack, 10x odds craps, Crapless Craps, Fortune Pai Gow Poker, and baccarat.

Stop Number 6: Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Biloxi

The Hard Rock brand has always been an old favorite of mine, although lately it has fallen slightly out of favor due to collectively offering some absolutely brutal blackjack conditions.

At several Hard Rock casinos recently, I’ve had to actively hunt for a double-0 roulette table or a 3:2 blackjack game buried inside a sea of triple-0 roulette and 6:5 blackjack. Thankfully, the Biloxi location was a bit friendlier.

I sat down at a 6-deck blackjack table and promptly lost my money at record speed. It was one of those sessions where absolutely nothing could go right.

Ironically, every time I did hit a blackjack, the dealer rounded my payout up to the nearest dollar. Instead of getting paid $22.50 on a $15 bet, I got paid $23. I can’t imagine those 50-cent rounding errors are helping the casino’s bottom line much, but psychologically? It made me feel like I was getting a little extra value.

Despite losing, I still always enjoy visiting Hard Rock properties. The casino is packed with rock-and-roll memorabilia, and you could easily spend hours wandering around looking at everything. Add in the loud music pumping through the casino floor, and the whole place just feels built for a fun night out.

Table limits on an early Saturday afternoon were $5 for UTH, TCP, High Card Flush, and Mississippi Stud; $10 for 6-deck 6:5 blackjack and double-0 roulette; $15 for 6-deck 3:2 blackjack and 10x odds craps; and $25 for double-deck 3:2 blackjack and baccarat.

Stop Number 7: Harrah’s Gulf Coast

The responsible gambling behavior I showed earlier at Beau Rivage by leaving with most of my buy-in completely disappeared at Harrah’s Gulf Coast, which included an early trip to the ATM.

Now, to be fair, I had already budgeted for at least one ATM run during this trip, so it wasn’t completely irresponsible … but still, it’s something I try to avoid.

I lost my original buy-in fast on a $25 double-deck game, which immediately prompted the ATM visit. Then I proceeded to lose another couple hundred dollars and hover around that same miserable mark for the next two hours.

In gambling, sometimes it feels like absolutely nothing can go right.

Luckily, gambling also occasionally works in reverse.

At some point during the session, the cards completely flipped. Suddenly, it felt like I couldn’t lose. I watched a stack of around $100 balloon into over $1,000 in about an hour.

I’m not even a side-bet player, but on the rare occasions I tossed money on them, I was somehow hitting those too while winning the main hand. The entire session was electric — exactly the kind of comeback I needed after the beating I took at Hard Rock.

I just wish I could win outright once in a while without the emotional roller coaster attached.

Harrah’s is one of the more laid-back casino floors in the area, where the resort amenities seem to do a lot of the heavy lifting for the property’s popularity. The casino itself was fairly quiet that afternoon. I walked in just after lunch and walked out right around dinner. Perfect timing.

Table limits at Harrah’s included $10 for 6-deck 3:2 blackjack, Double Down Madness, TCP, I Luv Suits, DJ Wild, Let It Ride, UTH, Mississippi Stud, and double-0 roulette; $15 for 10x odds craps, Crapless Craps, and Face Up Pai Gow Poker; $25 for double-deck 3:2 blackjack; and $50 baccarat.

Stop Number 8: Golden Nugget Biloxi

The Golden Nugget brand is another one that has slowly fallen out of favor for me over the years, largely due to declining table game conditions.

My final straw came at the Las Vegas location with the mandatory $2 blackjack side bet.

Thankfully, Golden Nugget Biloxi didn’t seem to have that problem, and the table games here were mostly reasonable.

Like many Golden Nugget properties, the gaming almost feels secondary to the resort itself. Even though the casino floor was busy on a Saturday evening, the pool and restaurants somehow looked even busier.

Interestingly enough, Biloxi’s Golden Nugget is actually home to the real Hand of Faith gold nugget. The Las Vegas version is apparently just a replica, which honestly surprised me.

I didn’t play here, opting instead to simply survey the casino floor. Table limits were $5 for TCP and Crazy 4 Poker; $10 for UTH and Mississippi Stud; $15 for 6-deck 6:5 blackjack, 6-deck 3:2 blackjack, Face Up Pai Gow Poker, 10x odds craps, and double-0 roulette; and $25 for double-deck 3:2 blackjack and baccarat.

Stop Number 9: Palace Casino Resort

Toward the end of my earlier session at Harrah’s, I felt like I couldn’t lose a hand.

At Palace, unfortunately, I felt like I couldn’t win one.

It was one of those games again, although luckily I was still riding the emotional high from my comeback at Harrah’s.

I sat down at another double-deck pitched game — my favorite kind — at the very reasonable limit of $15 a hand. Palace had one of the liveliest casino floors I’d seen all trip, with a DJ playing music in the middle of the casino while the tables, slots, and restaurants buzzed with people.

The blackjack conditions here were favorable, similar to Treasure Bay’s, but inside a much more upscale-feeling environment.

Honestly, I kind of wish I had found this game earlier in the trip because I probably would have spent a lot more time here.

The buffet line was absolutely packed that evening, although sadly this one did not include crab legs. As someone who genuinely loves casino buffets, I’m thrilled there are still places in America where most of the casinos still have them.

Table limits that night included $5 TCP and Kings Stud Poker; $10 for 6-deck 3:2 blackjack, double-0 roulette, 10x odds craps, and Fortune Pai Gow Poker; and $15 for double-deck 3:2 blackjack.

Stop Number 10: Boomtown Casino Biloxi

Every major gambling town has its locals joint, and Boomtown is absolutely Biloxi’s.

I walked onto the casino floor just in time to watch someone get kicked out and trespassed by security — which is hilariously the exact same thing that was happening the last time I visited back in 2023. Either security here is incredibly aggressive, or people simply forget how to behave the second they walk through the doors.

Naturally, I immediately found myself sitting at third base on a pitched blackjack game within about a minute of arriving.

The session started exactly like most of the other blackjack sessions on this trip: horribly.

Eventually, the entire group I was playing with left the table at the same time, and almost instantly I started winning. Funny how that seems to happen sometimes.

Now playing heads-up with the dealer, I accumulated so many red $5 chips that I started building a little castle around my pink $2.50 chips. Unfortunately, I lost one of the castle’s walls near the end of the session, but I still walked away with a solid profit.

I was stunned to find $1 blackjack here — something I genuinely haven’t seen outside of Las Vegas until now. Otherwise, most table games at Boomtown hovered around the $5 minimum range.

All in all, Boomtown Biloxi featured $1 6:5 blackjack dealt from a continuous shuffler; $5 for 6-deck 3:2 blackjack, UTH, DJ Wild, and Mississippi Stud; $10 for Face Up Pai Gow Poker and baccarat; and $15 for double-deck 3:2 blackjack.

Stop Number 11: IP Casino Resort Spa

What a day Biloxi had been.

It was nearing midnight on my final night in town, and my last stop was IP.

Interestingly enough, “IP” is actually short for nothing — the casino’s name is simply IP. It’s essentially a spin-off of Las Vegas’ former Imperial Palace and is now owned by Boyd Gaming.

This was easily the busiest casino I visited during the entire trip.

There are definitely pros and cons to IP. On the positive side, many of the table games have respectable conditions, including only double-0 roulette and 20x odds craps. The multi-level casino floor is also packed with slot machines.

The downside is blackjack. Most of the tables pay 6:5 until you get up into the $25 minimum range, which is disappointing.

A live band was performing near the main entrance, giving the casino a ton of energy and life.

I didn’t stay long enough to play, with an early morning checkout and long drive home looming ahead of me. Honestly, I’m not sure I could’ve even found an open seat at the tables if I wanted to.

On a Saturday night, table limits at IP included $10 for double-0 roulette, Mississippi Stud, UTH, Let It Ride, TCP, and I Luv Suits; $15 for 6-deck 6:5 blackjack, 20x odds craps, Face Up Pai Gow Poker, and baccarat; $25 for double-deck 3:2 blackjack; and $50 for 6-deck 3:2 blackjack.

Coloring up in Biloxi

Overall, Biloxi still feels like one of the great hidden gems in American gambling.

Even though the area can get extraordinarily busy, it lives in the shadow of larger gaming destinations like Las Vegas and Atlantic City.

The gambling here is excellent, and it’s honestly refreshing to see a casino-centered town thriving at a time when other gaming destinations seem to be struggling. Having beautiful Gulf Coast views certainly doesn’t hurt either.

Over the course of a whirlwind two-day stay, I visited 11 casinos, played nearly 12 hours of blackjack, and surveyed essentially every major table game offering in the area.

About six hours of driving later, I passed Bossier City and Shreveport. It took every ounce of self-control I had not to stop and continue the heater.

Unfortunately, the rental car needed to be returned on time — which was either very lucky for me or very unlucky for me. I will never know.