Prior to its destruction in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina, it operated a small casino that catered to local residents.

The casino was originally housed in a former cruise ship, the Pride of Galveston, then later on a barge built to resemble an on-shore building, but which still floated on water to comply with Mississippi dockside gaming laws.

[1] In the late 1980s, William "Si" Redd, a renowned figure in the gaming industry known as the "king of slot machines," teamed up with two up-and-coming restaurateurs from the Gulf Coast named Terry Green and Joel “Rick” Carter to form a partnership named Carter-Green-Redd Inc., doing business as Pride Cruise Lines, Inc., to establish a casino that would operate on a floating platform off the coast of Mississippi in international waters, where gambling was legal.

In December 2005, Harrah's Entertainment announced a deal to sell the former Grand site and remaining assets to the owners of the Copa.

The Copa owners are using the new site for the new Island View Casino,[4] which has opened a temporary land-based facility (now allowed after regulations were relaxed after Katrina) in the Grand's former hotel on the north side of Beach Boulevard.