Business levels at Mississippi Gulf Coast casinos will get a very serious look over the next several weeks. Yes, the shape of the future is more visible what with two of the biggest Biloxi operators re-opening by the end of the month.

No one is investing more in the shape of things to come along the Biloxi-Gulfport coast than Harrah’s, which has elected to go with just one first-phase property for the moment.  It’s Gulfport real estate was sold and a temporary Biloxi casino re-opens this week. Look for the property to be eventually re-flagged as a Horseshoe as it transitions into a  “destination resort.”

MGM Mirage has used the last year to dramatically up the level of its Biloxi investment, adding a  golf course, additional amenities and new interior treatments at its Gulf-front Beau Rivage which is still the Southeast’s largest resort.

Top officials at both companies have been enthusiastic about the levels of business at the handful of Katrina-damaged resorts that began re-opening late last year. The early life sign indicators suggest the best is yet to come, so they say.

The casino win numbers have been big the last several months as this handful of of mostly temporary properties have earned  much more than their share of the business reported during the same year ago periods before Katrina blew through.

But Penn National President Kevin DeSanctis cautions against the optimism of those who appear to see big pockets of new business.

It just is not there, not yet, anyway, he says.

Aside from the spending power of construction workers and others involved in the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast DeSanctis insists there is no sign of a lot of new business. The area does not yet have the kind of air service that works to its advantage.

Besides, he adds, if people within the so-called Biloxi-Gulfport market area are tempted to get on a plane to visit a casino, it is probably because they are on their way to Las Vegas. Don’t look for what fact to change in the near future.

Which explains Penn’s decision to take a “prudent” approach to the re-opening of its casinos in Biloxi and Bay St. Louis. The Penn casinos will be operating for a time in temporary facilities that will be updated as Penn tests the waters.

Both Harrah’s and MGM Mirage with their bigger capital spending budgets are rebuilding in Mississippi on the kind of lavish scale that suggests a desire to exploit a regulatory and business climate that seems likely to enhance the area’s appeal as a first class travel destination.

That big picture approach to the future seems logical if you want to think in terms of what the next few years will bring. Super amenities can be expected to make a difference as time goes by.

On the other hand, most Louisiana leaders have done nothing since Katrina to convince resort industry officials their state is the place to be investing big bucks. Harrah’s is close to opening its New Orleans hotel, but that project was in the works long before Katrina struck.

So what does “business as usual” in either state mean?

Business as usual in New Orleans means Harrah’s will understandably continue resisting all efforts to infringe on the company’s land-based exclusive for which it pays about $60 million a year.

Which is all right, because there continues to be no visible sign of interest in expanding Louisiana gaming.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin did not get any cheers when he suggested during those weeks of post-Katrina strategizing that some kind of casino zone might help light a fire under the city’s staggering economy.

Mississippi’s another matter as rules have been relaxed to allow rebuilding on land up to 800 feet inland from the mean high water level. We’ll see what that may mean as time goes by.

Mirage Resorts President Bobby Baldwin who oversees the Beau Rivage maintains an enthusiastic outlook with respect to Biloxi.

“We believe,” he says, “that there are many customers awaiting a first-class market.”

If the Las Vegas rule of thumb applies then we can look for significant new spending on amenities to attract significant new business.