Casino news source: KATC - http://www.katc.com/
Pinnacle prepares to bring casino bid to gaming board
LAKE CHARLES, La. -- L'Auberge du Lac's owner will ask the state Gaming Control Board this week to approve its purchase of Harrah's hurricane-wrecked casino operation along Interstate 10.
Harrah's wants to sell its closed-down site to Pinnacle Entertainment for $70 million. Pinnacle wants to use one of Harrah's two state gaming licenses to put a riverboat at a new site next to L'Auberge du Lac. The other license would be used in Baton Rouge or in New Orleans on the west bank of the Mississippi River.
The board meets at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the state Capitol in Baton Rouge.
Board members will vote on the purchase agreement, the transfer of the two gaming licenses and relocation of the boats' berth.
Pinnacle proposes to build a $350 million resort next to L'Auberge called Sugarcane Bay to create a bigger destination resort here, Pinnacle President Wade Hundley said.
Doing so will allow us to draw from a population base even far beyond what we are able to do with just L'Auberge itself he said.
Pinnacle said the proposal would create 2,000 jobs and hundreds more hotel rooms.
In terms of total investment, (L'Auberge/Sugarcane Bay) will rival the biggest casinos in Biloxi _ but in the terms of land area, amenities and all of the things offered at the resort it will be unparalleled on the entire Gulf coast, Hundley said.
If the deal is approved, the fate of the former Harrah's site on Lake Charles' north shore will remain unresolved.
Hundley said the company is aware of the concern in Lake Charles about not reopening the riverboat casinos on the lakefront.
The issue that people should be focused on is not the number of licenses you have, but the amount of investment and amount of gaming revenues you are going to generate, he said.
We can generate far more gaming revenues from one license using it at Sugarcane Bay than Harrah's was generating with two licenses or even what Isle of Capri is getting from two licenses at their place.
The proposed sale is opposed by three groups, all of which have a financial interest in where the Harrah's gaming licenses end up.
Jebaco, Lake Charles' first riverboat developer, has filed a lawsuit contending the agreement violates state and federal laws. It also accuses Harrah's of not doing enough to protect the Lake Charles property and its two riverboat casinos from Hurricane Rita.
Alliance for Local Recovery and Development and Southwest Louisiana Gaming Associates also are against the sale because Pinnacle does not plan to return to the riverboats to the lakefront.
Chester Jones, head of the Alliance, has said, The opportunity that we offer is to keep the licenses in downtown Lake Charles to restore the approximately 1,400 jobs that were lost and restore the revenue to the city that was lost which funded many improvements in the city.
Alliance officials say they are talking with several gaming companies interested in securing one or both gaming licenses if the Pinnacle-Harrah's deal is rejected.
Documents submitted to state regulators show that the Alliance last week offered Harrah's $77 million for its local property.
The Alliance proposes locating a multimillion dollar riverboat casino development near the Civic Center, along with a five-star hotel and convention center on the lakefront. |
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