If one believes a business that takes in billions of dollars annually in just one state can get into a squeeze, just keep an eye on Louisiana’s casino industry. Within a couple of years, plans call for all of the 15 riverboat casinos allowed by state law to be up and running. With the Harrah’s downtown New Orleans casino enjoying a virtual land monopoly among state-licensed outlets and four racetrack casinos running, the lineup put together over the past 20 years will be complete. But some casinos may be about to feel a pinch during a snail’s-pace economic recovery and increased competition for gambling revenue that has, at best, remained largely flat.
Two new projects are being built—Pinnacle Entertainment Inc.’s $357 million L’Auberge Casino & Hotel Baton Rouge and the $400 million Mojito Pointe casino-hotel resort in Lake Charles developed by former Pinnacle CEO Daniel Lee. “While one casino is being built in Lake Charles, though, another is trying to move out. Isle of Capri Casinos Inc. has a deal to sell one of its two riverboats in Lake Charles to a group that wants to add a sixth floating casino in the Shreveport-Bossier City market.” Read more on the state’s changing casino industry at mysanantonio.com.
