Gaming leaders from across the Southeast gathered at the Beau Rivage Thursday to celebrate 30 years of dockside gambling. Nearly 500 guests filled the ballroom, with some coming from as far as Japan.

Thirty years ago, Harrison County voters changed South Mississippi forever by approving a dockside gaming referendum. That change shifted the culture of the coast by increasing jobs, revenue, and tourism.

But there would be another big change on the horizon thanks to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Before the massive storm, gaming operations in Mississippi, by law, had to be over water. It started with riverboats, and became more sophisticated throughout the ’90s and early 2000s.