Benzinga recently had the chance to sit down with Rick Carter, the co-founder of the Island View Casino Resort in Gulfport, Mississippi. Carter’s career as a business owner has taken lots of twists and turns, and he shared some of his biggest failures, his greatest challenges and the most important lessons he has learned in his climb to the top of the Mississippi Gulf Coast gaming industry.

Bad Timing

Perhaps the timing of the launch of Carter’s restaurant business in Houston in 1985 was appropriate foreshadowing of the type of adversity he would have to repeatedly overcome throughout his career. Nearly as soon as he set up shop in the center of the U.S. oil industry, the price of crude oil collapsed.

“Oil got to $19 per barrel I think, the day I opened up my restaurant,” Carter told Benzinga. “There was more cars pulling U-Haul trailers driving past my restaurant leaving town than any other type of car on the road!”

Entering The Casino Business

After the restaurant business didn’t end up taking off as anticipated, Carter and childhood friend Terry Green got to talking…

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