When opening a business, people tend to go through their regular checklists: utility hookups, banking, computers and peripherals, staff, advertising, stock, property insurance, liability insurance and so on. All of these are integral to a business' success. However, what could be just as important is business interruption insurance.

Business owners rarely think twice about insuring their company against fire, theft or wind damage. But some business owners fail to think about how they would manage if a fire or other insured peril damaged their business premises so that they were temporarily unusable.

After Hurricane Katrina hit, thousands of businesses owners found themselves unable to operate. In the Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi regions, 12 casinos were damaged and some were considered devastated beyond repair. In the New Orleans area, an additional four casinos suffered structural and interior damage resulting from the hurricane's 145-mph winds and 30-foot storm surge.

Typical business interruption policies have a 12 month cap and are based on lost net income, temporary relocation expenses and on-going payroll expenses but not property. It does not act as a blank cheque, nor does it cover all of the costs involved in repairing the damaged buildings.

In these cases, where the casinos themselves are multi-million dollar structures, it seems unlikely that a complete rebuilding of the establishments will occur before the twelve month mark, when most of the Business Interruption Policies will expire. What will happen to the casinos?

Casino representatives maintain that they are focusing now on safety and ensuring that their employees are paid on time. No one is saying much about the insurance policies quite yet. The Louisiana Gaming Control Board will hear from casino representatives at its Oct. 18 meeting, but beyond that there's not yet a proposal to build gambling back to where it was before the hurricanes.

Some strides are already being made. On August 29, the Boomtown New Orleans riverboat casino was closed indefinitely and all employees were evacuated. On September 30, just over a month later, the casino opened its doors again. Daniel Lee, the chairman of Boomtown's parent company Pinnacle Entertainment, said that by reopening his casino, he's showing his great faith in the future of New Orleans.