The Planning Commission will consider a request by the Belle of Baton Rouge to rezone its France Street property from commercial alcoholic beverage (bar and lounge) use to commercial gaming use at its February meeting.
The request is part of the downtown riverboat casino’s plans to move its gaming operations inland. Those plans, which were approved by the Louisiana Gaming Control Board in 2022, call for the casino’s gaming floor to be relocated inside its atrium.
Legislation allowing Louisiana’s riverboat casinos to move up to 1,200 feet inland was approved by state lawmakers in 2018. Baton Rouge’s only other downtown casino, The Queen Baton Rouge, recently completed its own move inland.
The Belle of Baton Rouge also plans to rebrand once it moves, though details of that rebranding have yet to be announced.
A representative told Daily Report last summer that the project would be geared toward giving the inland facility the feel of a “boutique-style casino.” Plans also call for adding a café and oyster bar to the site, with reopening tentatively scheduled for October 2024. The casino’s parent company, CQ Holding Co., also owns The Queen Baton Rouge.
