While most of the country was betting on the Super Bowl this past weekend, it was a trifecta of gambling in parts of the Deep South — Lunar New Year meets Mardi Gras, topped off with a healthy dose of football frenzy.

In areas with a long history of celebrating Mardi Gras, large numbers of Vietnamese and other Asian immigrants, and a thriving casino landscape, last weekend was like Christmas, the Fourth of July, and your drunk uncle’s wedding all rolled into one.

The 12 casinos along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, along with the Caesars in downtown New Orleans and the three other casinos in outlying parishes, faced down not only the 2 million visitors who come to the Gulf Coast for Mardi Gras each year, but the prospect of Chinese New Year on Saturday and the Super Bowl on Sunday.

From jam-packed sportsbooks to baccarat pits beyond occupancy limits, Gulf Coast casinos threw a party that encompassed everyone from stolid businessmen to people barely distinguishable under all the beads they were wearing. Chiefs and Niners fans decked out in their team colors were shoulder to shoulder at the blackjack tables with everyone else in their green, yellow, and purple.

On Saturday in both downtown New Orleans and Biloxi, parades rolled right past the casinos’ front doors as VIPs mixed with Mardi Gras revelers to eat crawfish, drink beer, and holler, “Throw me something, mister.”

Crowds, dozens deep in places along the Big Easy parade route on Canal Street, first clamored for throws before pushing their way into the casinos to try their luck on the slots and craps tables, while the Chinese New Year players were shouting and laughing and celebrating the Year of the Dragon while crowded around baccarat tables.

The good times roll

On Sunday, which locals call Lundi Gras Eve, these two parties, already intertwined on the casino floor and the humid streets, were joined by legions of die-hard football fans determined to celebrate America’s greatest game.

And what a game it was. Only the second overtime contest in more than five decades of Super Bowl history made for over four hours of shouting, crying, laughing, and booing, as the Chiefs finally came out on top. While this would have normally brought the casino floor to a complete halt, it hardly put a dent in play in the baccarat salons or craps tables that were already as packed as the parade routes outside.

As Chiefs fans celebrated their victory late into Sunday evening, casino security was busy coping with overflow capacity as overworked cocktail staff brought beer and daiquiris to a crowd as varied as locals from Chalmette and Lunar New Year partygoers from as far away as Shanghai. 

Mardi Gras evening saw the largest of the crowds, including some football fanatics still partying in their Chiefs gear as the parades concluded with Rex, the king of the parades and always the last to roll in New Orleans. Meanwhile, in Biloxi, the Gulf Coast Carnival parade drew 80,000 people in front of the Beau Rivage and Hard Rock resorts.

The night was a kaleidoscope of beads, booze, and bets in the casinos, as patrons spent the last hour of the Mardi Gras in a spasm of “laissez les bons temps rouler” (“let the good times roll”), hoping good fortune would smile on them.

Photo: Kevin Lentz