It was founded by Minnesota businessman Ralph Engelstad.

The property opened for business officially on December 22, 1997, as the Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino Biloxi.

It was the sister property of the Imperial Palace on the Las Vegas Strip, in Paradise, Nevada.

[1][2] The Las Vegas property was sold to Harrah's Entertainment in 2005.

Boyd Gaming bought the IP in October 2011 for $278 million in cash, plus a $10 million donation to the Engelstad Family Foundation.