Louisiana Senate Considers Shifting Riverboat Casinos to Land

Riverboat casinos: The beginning of a new gambling era in Louisiana

 

A Louisiana Senate committee passed a bill that would slacken the regulatory policies relating to the state’s fifteen riverboat casinos, giving them the green signal to extend 1,200 feet ashore and add more slot machines and gaming tables. Sponsored by Senator Ronnie Johns, the bill is backed by a Senate judiciary committee, which does not restrict the bill despite the concerns that the state’s riverboat casinos don’t sign contracts with women and minority-owned businesses. The new bill also proposes to allow sports betting on racetracks.

 

Louisiana, in 1991, laid the foundation for a new era of gambling by legalizing riverboat casinos, which would sail on the Mississippi River. The floating casinos, however, stopped cruising after they saw a drop in business as a result of moving offshore. Currently, only 3 out of the 15 riverboat casinos in the state are docked on the river. Louisiana state legislators canned the cruising requirement a couple of years ago as it became clearly evident that riverboat casino owners would do anything to dodge it.

 

Opposition to the bill

 

Senator Ronnie Johns says that the legislation intends to keep pace with the emerging gambling industry. But the proposed bill faced opposition from a few Democrats, who expressed their concerns over the gambling industry’s incredible diversity. Senator Karen Carter Peterson asserted that they have not employed sufficient minority workers or struck deals with minority-owned businesses.

 

The gaming industry’s representative, however, said that it’s difficult to find these kinds of businesses. The same committee agreed to move a casino from Bossier City to Tangipahoa Parish.

 

Even religious leaders in the state opposed the bill. They are debating that the new bill would usher in more gambling activities to the state, which will, in turn, force churches to minimize the repercussions.

 

The two proposals, one to bring riverboat casinos ashore and the other to move the Bossier City casino to Tangipahoa Parish, are part of the bills that seek to expand gambling in the state and legalize video poker and a lone-based casino in New Orleans. The line between land casinos and riverboat casinos would blur if the bill is passed.

 

The governor of Louisiana state says that he will sign the bill if it reaches him after it moves from the Senate and through the House. Even if the bill happens to become a law, the deal would not be final because it would require a referendum vote from the residents of Tangipahoa Parish whether or not to permit the shifting of riverboat casinos ashore.