Casino news source: The Shreveport Times - http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/
Harrah's sale of Lake Charles casinos approved
By John Hill
BATON ROUGE — The state Gaming Control Board unanimously approved to sale of Harrah's Lake Charles riverboat licenses to Pinnacle for $70 million cash.
Pinnacle will spend $350 million building a new casino resort next to its vastly successful L'Aberge du Lac boat on the Calcasieu River on the west side of Lake Charles.
The board listened to but declined to take any action on a request by the Orleans Levee District that it remove a non-compete clause that would require Pinnacle to pay Harrah's an additional $100 million should either one of the two licensees go to New Orleans or Shreveport any time over the next five years.
Hurricane Rita destroyed Harrah's Lake Charles boats last September, one of which is beached and the other already taken to a Texas dry dock.
For the $70 million, which Pinnacle will pay out of cash assets, it gets a sliver of Lake Charles land and a 264-room hotel which Harrah's closed after it ran at 30 percent occupancy this year.
Pinnacle said it will move one of the Lake Charles downtown licenses to the Calcasieu site, where it will build a new "Tommy Bahama"-themed resort to be called Sugar Cane Bay that will include a 400-room hotel. The L'Auberge du Lac, an upscale Texas-themed resort, already has a 750-room hotel to which 250 rooms will be added.
Calcasieu Parish voters will be asked to approve the move of the casino berth from downtown Lake Charles to the Calcasieu River.
The other riverboat license will be relocated to another market in Louisiana, with Pinnacle saying it is considering either Baton Rouge or Port Allen in West Baton Rouge Parish, among other possible berths.
Eugene Green of New Orleans, a member of the Orleans Levee District, objected to the non-compete clause that requires Harrah's to be paid $100 million if one of the Lake Charles licenses were to be moved to Shreveport or New Orleans. The exception is if Pinnacle attempted to move the boat license to be adjacent to its existing riverboat casino, Boomtown, on the Harvey Canal on the Westbank of New Orleans.
|
|
World Casino Directory 
Gambling Forums 
