The Isle of Capri is selling its Vicksburg casino and one in Bossier City to Legends Gaming for $240 million, officials of both companies said this morning.

&#8220We determined that the sale of our Vicksburg and Bossier City properties will allow the Isle to focus on opportunities that more closely match our portfolio and strategic vision,” said Timothy M. Hinkley, president and chief operating officer for the Isle, which was the first gaming company to open a casino in Vicksburg a year after Warren County voters approved riverboat gambling.

Since the agreement announced today is subject to the approval of both the Mississippi Gaming Commission and the Louisiana Gaming Control Board, the deal will not be completed until the second or third quarter of this year, said G. Dan Marshall, chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Legends Gaming.

A news release from the Isle of Capri Casinos Inc. said money from the sale will be used to fund existing development or pay down debts. The company reopened its Hurricane Katrina-ravaged casino in Biloxi in December and is moving its corporate headquarters from Biloxi to the St. Louis area.

Marshall said all Vicksburg Isle employees will be hired by Legends with the exception of some in senior management the Isle wants to retain and transfer.

Legends is a privately held company that was formed in 2004 to own and operate casinos in regional markets.

Company principals are William J. McEnery, chairman; Michael E. Kelly, president and chief executive officer; and Marshall.

&#8220We are extremely pleased to have entered into this agreement with Isle of Capri and for the opportunity they have provided for Legends to commence casino operations in Louisiana and Mississippi,” McEnery said. &#8220We look forward to working with team members, gaming regulators and the local Bossier City and Vicksburg communities in an effort to continue to provide a first class entertainment venue in those markets.”

Marshall also said Legends, whose principals are in Las Vegas and Illinois, is in the process of completing applications for the company and principals in the company for regulators in Mississippi and Louisiana.

He said he expects no trouble with gaining approval.

McEnery was a founding partner and director of Argosy Gaming Company. He was also a founding partner of Empress River Entertainment Corp., which previously owned and operated Empress-brand casinos in Joliet, Ill. and Hammond, Ind.

The proposed deal keeps the current number of casinos operating in Vicksburg at four, with two on the way. Operating now are the two that opened in 1993, the Isle and Horizon, formerly Harrah’s; and Ameristar and Rainbow, both of which opened in 1994.

The next one is expected to be Magnolia Hill Resort and Pot of Gold Casino, a $50 million project that will include a casino with 800 slots and 20 table games and a hotel with an observation deck overlooking the Mississippi River. It would employ 500 people. It will be on a shelf of land above the river and immediately north of the Rainbow Casino complex off Warrenton Road.

In December, developers of the project won approval of city officials when it made modifications to its parking deck plans to accommodate area homeowners.

Also receiving city board approval in 2005 was Minnesota-based Lakes Gaming, which plans a $280 million casino-hotel project farther south, off U.S. 61 South adjacent to Meadow Lane. That company plans to start construction in the spring with a May 2007 opening.

The barge today housing the Isle’s casino in Vicksburg is the second vessel the company has had in its cofferdam near the confluence of the Yazoo Diversion Canal and the Mississippi River. The previous craft was a boat that required a captain and crew to be onboard.

Over the years, the Isle bought from another gaming company the Jett School land extending from Washington Street to the Mississippi River and the company built a hotel adjacent to the casino. A fifth casino was never developed on the land and the Isle now has a building on the property.