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It happened when the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino opened in 1999 and when Hard Rock Casino Biloxi in 2007, and the same rush of people is expected in December when the doors open at the new Scarlet Pearl Casino.

South Mississippi's 12th casino comes as casino revenue has surpassed pre-Hurricane Katrina levels, though fewer visitors are coming to play on the Coast than in 2005.

Some who came to Biloxi before Katrina found casinos closer to home, now that casinos are legal in many more states, said Todd Raziano, general manager of Hard Rock Casino Biloxi.

A new casino will draw media attention to the area and is a reason for people to return and see the progress at the casinos over the 10 years, he said.

Coast casinos are bigger and brighter since Katrina. After Hard Rock's second casino tower opened in 2014, the curved architecture of the building became a can

vas for 17 colored lights that dance across the hotel at night.

"We have some pretty talented engineers here and they installed the lights themselves," said Raziano.

The iconic red Hard Rock guitar was a beacon and symbol of survival, hope and recovery after Katrina, he said, and now LED lights give the casinos more lighting options.

"They're very flexible and they are programmable," he said. The building was splashed in pink for breast cancer awareness in October, will fluctuate red and green for Christmas and gold, green and purple for Mardi Gras.

"Not only can we program color but we can program the activity," he said. The color washes left or right, fast or slow.

"As you drive down Highway 90 it catches your eye," he said. "It creates excitement" and makes people want to see the excitement that's inside.

"Casinos have always been very sensory experiences," he said. "The lighting provides us the opportunity to be noticed and set ourselves apart."

Biloxi's skyline is lit with eight casinos and the Scarlet Pearl in D'Iberville will add more color to the view with its red sign atop the tower and an erupting volcano that is the centerpiece of the resort's miniature golf course.

Coming into Biloxi, colorful lights stretch up the IP Casino tower and reflect from the casinos onto the water of the Mississippi Sound and Back Bay.

Seeing how the lights transformed the new hotel at Hard Rock, the owners of Island View Casino in Gulfport installed LED lights to add architectural interest to the boxy building that was transformed into the Beach Tower.

"You can literally change the look of your property with a flip of a switch," said Cathy Mackenzie, vice president and general counsel for the resort.

The LED lights are projected out and up, so guests inside the hotel don't see or even realize the building is part of a computer-controlled light show every night, she said.

People in the community look forward to the displays, she said, and during Cruisin' The Coast, folks spent time in the parking lot watching the show.

This will be the first Christmas for the hotel tower and light show and she said, "I think it's going to be something really special."

Island View also financed Harbor Lights Winter Festival, a holiday light show programmed to music at nearby Jones Park.

The white lights on Christmas swags outside the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino are a hint of the holiday lights and decor inside. The 200 trees wrapped in clear and multi-color lights spread holiday cheer from the front door and lobby throughout the Biloxi resort.

The lights at Silver Slipper Casino in western Hancock County are much brighter now after a hotel tower opened this summer.

"You certainly can spot us coming down the beach," general manager John Ferrucci said.

Some of the larger suites were rented for corporate meetings and Ferrucci said the addition of a hotel has spurred business. EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, was up 25 percent in the second quarter after the first rooms of the hotel opened in May and increased 39 percent in the third quarter.

Customers enjoy the amenities at the hotel.

The $5,000 toilets in the suites are "the talk of the town," Ferrucci said, and the massage chairs in four of the nine suites are so popular, he plans to buy more. "There will be one in every suite," he said.

The new casinos, hotels and amenities are imperative in the industry but come as a double-edge sword, he said.

"Everyone wants to maintain their market share," but he said the industry also hopes the new casino will grow the market.

The opening of a casino sends a message to the industry and visitors that this region is still strong, said Larry Gregory, executive director of the Mississippi Gaming and Hospitality Association.

The Scarlet Pearl is the first casino built since the Mississippi Gaming Commission mandated that each new property meet quality standards and bring something to the market -- such as the Lava Links mini-golf course with that exploding volcano.

"We want new customers," Gregory said. "We don't want a slice-of-the-pie same customer base."