Salvage crews pulled wooden plugs from the stern of the Argosy VI on Wednesday morning, July 1, and the sea did the rest. Within an hour the 408-foot former riverboat casino was gone beneath the Gulf of Mexico, and a sonar check later confirmed it had settled on the bottom.
It now lies in 122 feet of water, 23 nautical miles south of Orange Beach, Alabama, with the top of the structure just below 60 feet from the surface. State officials call it the region’s largest artificial reef.
From the Ohio River to the Gulf
The Argosy Casino opened in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, in 1996, three years after the state’s legislature voted to legalize casino gaming. The Argosy VI came into service the next year, replacing a smaller vessel. It carried 1,700 slot machines on roughly 75,000 square feet of gaming space across three casino decks, and sat at the center of a complex that also had a 300-room hotel and restaurants. Gamblers came from Cincinnati, northern Kentucky and southeastern Indiana.
Penn Entertainment acquired the operator, Argosy Gaming Company, in 2004. The boat was retired after about 12 years to make way for a larger one, which is still running as Hollywood Casino Lawrenceburg.
Alabama real estate developer Larry Wireman bought the Argosy VI later. According to casino.org, he was negotiating to moor it at Key West when the Alabama Conservation Department’s Marine Resources Division called. Marine Insight reported that the vessel had spent years at the city docks in Bayou La Batre, along with another casino boat, since before Hurricane Sally in 2020.
The $2.5 million project
The state paid $2.5 million, covering the cost of gutting the boat and stripping out hazardous materials, including engines, plumbing and electrical systems. The money came from the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act, which passes offshore oil and gas leasing revenue to Gulf states. Preparation took more than a year.
“It’s rejuvenating its life,” said Craig Newton, fisheries section supervisor at the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. “Otherwise, it was destined for the scrap yard.”
The seabed off Alabama is mostly flat, Newton said, so artificial reefs give corals, sea squirts, shrimp and small fish somewhere to settle before larger reef fish such as red snapper and triggerfish arrive. Kevin Anson, the state’s Marine Resources Director, said fish could start gathering almost at once, and officials expect a wide variety of marine life within about a year.
The Argosy VI sits near two existing reefs, New Venture and The LuLu, which are already popular dive sites. Officials expect divers and offshore anglers to follow, and say the reef will support the local charter fishing and diving industry. Alabama’s reef program covers about 1,060 square miles of Gulf waters, the largest artificial reef system in the United States.
Sources
- Once the World's Largest Riverboat Casino, Argosy VI Gets an Incredible Second Life Beneath the Sea
- Watch: Former World's Largest Riverboat Casino Sunk Off Orange Beach To Become Artificial Reef
