01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, April 26, 2006

BILOXI, Miss. (AP) -- The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, owners of the giant Foxwoods casino resort in Connecticut, will file notice this week with Mississippi regulators of its intention to invest $400 million in a casino resort at the site of the Broadwater Hotel in Biloxi.

The Connecticut-based tribe will file through its expansion company, Foxwoods Development Group. The company will pay the same taxes as other casino owners and operate by the same set of rules in Mississippi, Gary Armentrout, the company's chief development officer, told The Sun Herald newspaper yesterday.

Armentrout said the company has reached a deal to buy 15 acres on the north side of U.S. Route 90 from W.C. "Cotton" Fore and Roy Anderson III.

"This will be a full-fledged, world-class resort to be called the Foxwoods Resort Casino at Broadwater Beach," Armentrout said.

He said the company plans to schedule construction to qualify for tax breaks under the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005. Other casino companies are also planning to take advantage of the rebuilding incentive, which requires all new construction to be in place by Dec. 31, 2008.

"We would operate on the same level playing field as a Harrah's or any other major gaming company out of Nevada," Armentrout said. "We are a commercial gaming entity."