$80 million bet - Silver Slipper opens Thursday night

WAVELAND -- The owners of the Silver Slipper have spent $80 million to build a gambling palace at Bayou Caddy, where flourishes of old Vegas blend with contemporary stylings.

"It's got a bit of Western flair, but not cowboy," said John Ferrucci, the casino's general manager.

Crystal chandeliers eight feet wide hang over the table games from a barrel vault ceiling detailed with gold-leaf rosettes. The buffet is more casual, featuring wooden beams bowed like ribs and copper carved like flames.

But this isn't a design showcase. It's a place to gamble, eat and party.

The casino offers 20 times odds on craps bets. The buffet has a 1,000-pound smoker. And the entertainment bar has 11-foot television screens that drop down for football games and other sporting events.

The Silver Slipper is set to make history at 7 p.m. Thursday when it is scheduled to open as the Coast's first land-based casino built from the ground up since the state allowed gambling to come ashore. Sonny Turner and the Original Platters will play in the Casino Show Bar on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.

Ferrucci's 84-year-old aunt, Josephine Crawford, will lend the place a little good luck by being the first person to play a slot machine. Earlier this year, she won $10 million, the biggest jackpot in New Jersey history, on a nickel machine in Atlantic City.

Paul Alanis, the chairman of Silver Slipper Gaming, and business partner Loren Ostrow have been supervising the final details in advance of the opening. They decided to increase the investment in the venture because of population shifts after Hurricane Katrina. Alanis pointed out that the casino is only a 21-minute drive from Slidell.

"Our target market doubled in population," Ferrucci said. "We've sent out 600,000 pieces of mail."

The casino has 26 table games, nine poker tables and 1,003 coinless slots. It employs more than 600 people.

Its restaurants are the Jubilee Buffet, the Blue Bayou Bar & Grill and the Palm Court Cafe. Windows in the Blue Bayou overlook marsh vegetation, which will be floodlit at night.

Boggs and Poole Contracting Group of Bossier City built the casino and Earl Swensson Associates of Nashville designed its look. The parking garage won't be ready until the end of the year so the casino has leased six acres for parking and will operate a shuttle service.