How Not To Run Casino Licensing
See if you can figure out what’s wrong with this story…
State gambling regulators will choose next week between three companies seeking the state’s last available riverboat casino license.
The Louisiana Gaming Control Board will take up the issue at its Feb. 17 meeting, after hearing four hours today from the companies and the state officials who reviewed their applications to make sure they meet the requirements to hold a casino license with the state.
The projects proposed would be in either Jefferson Parish or Lake Charles.
Gabriel Downs LLC is seeking to build a Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Lake Charles, with a $167 million first phase. Creative Casinos LLC also is targeting the Lake Charles market with a proposed $400 million project called Mojito Pointe.
Penn National Gaming Inc. is proposing a second casino in the New Orleans suburb of Harvey, called Hollywood Casino, with a first phase costing $145 million.
Assuming all three of these operators check out and are on the level, a question: why is it that Louisiana is choosing just one of these projects? Assumedly, since voters in Harvey and Lake Charles have opted to have casino gambling within their jurisdictions there wouldn’t be a local objection to one or two more casinos.
The current licensing scheme is essentially the same one set up by Edwin Edwards – and he just got out of jail for crimes he committed in setting up that scheme. Offering a set number of casino licenses statewide rather than opening specific geographic areas as casino districts is a stupid way to do casino gambling; it incentivizes the kind of corruption Edwards practiced and it opens the door for politically-connected sleazeballs to get licenses based on who they know rather than what they can do. Anyone who has been to either of the two casinos in Baton Rouge and witnessed the siphoning of Social Security, disability and welfare checks via slots and low-dollar table games knows we’re not accomplishing the intended goals of having casinos – namely, promoting tourism so that it’s somebody else’s citizens losing their money at the tables rather than our own poor people. Nobody comes from out-of-state to gamble at a crappy little boat when they could go to Vegas, or Atlantic City or the Beau Rivage.
Penn National Gaming, by the way, is the company operating Hollywood Casino in Baton Rouge. People come from as far away as Grosse Tete to throw dice there.
Even if you’re committed to a set number of licenses, why not set up a clear-cut system of qualification of prospective operators and then put up the licenses for auction to qualifiers? Seems like that would make for an open and transparent process. How transparent is the current system? It depends on the votes of the commission, no?
Regardless of which one of the three operators wins this license, Lake Charles and/or Harvey will miss out on anywhere from $314 million to $567 million in private-sector investment even if the casinos would ultimately go broke.
This is the worst possible way to do casino gambling, and it’s virtually assured that we’re going to end up with less benefit than we should as a result. Shouldn’t someone attempt to address this in the legislature in the upcoming regular session?
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Most of the gamblers at the Lake Charles casinos are from the Houston area, around 80%. Shreveport gets a similar percentage from Dallas. Now these casinos do actually bring in some big time “whales” In Lake Charles they take them duck/goose hunting and fishing. It is not that rare to see someone lose over $1 million in two days there, just the public doesn’t get to see these types of gamblers.
Compare the whale count in Lake Charles and Shreveport (which are the only
places where there is any semblance of attainment of the goal casinos are
supposed to attain) to that in Biloxi, and it’s simply not close. Even
Tunica’s casinos do better.
The last time I went into a casino in Baton Rouge, which was about 15 years ago, it appeared to me that the last thing that about 85% of the people there needed to be doing was wasting their money at a casino.
How do you know that Lake Charles residents are interested in having another casino? What if they think they have too many?
I heard that Texas is trying to get some casinos of their own- if this happens, LA could lose a great portion of their Texan gamblers- Lake Charles may not be the best region- maybe the New Orleans area is not a bad bet.
If they think they have too many, I’m sure they could get the city
council/police jury to vote down a permit – no?
Oh hell there will always be the temptation of corruption when that much money is on the table. You know Edwin Edwards did not set up the system that way and don’t try to say it was all his friends, that is in the words of a Great General “Bovine Scathology” you figure it out. Edwin Edwards may have helped himself but all politians do that. He was a good Governor and at least he helped the state as a whole. You can’t find anything to say, I can tell you he conviened a State Consitutional Convention which was responsible for getting rid of old outdated laws (ie: when your riding in your horseless carriage at night someone has to walk five feet in front of the vehicle). Educate yourself on the accomplishments of this man before you use his name in any negative maner. He did a whole lot for the state, as a seventh generation American I am proud to still call him governor.
The idiots have found their way here, as evidenced by this commenter who touts the 1973 constitution as a worthy achievement.
Good Lord.
Correct me if I am wrong, but the River Boat Casino law was Buddy Roemer’s idea. He came up with the number of licenses that could be issued. I agree it would be better to allow 2 or 3 projects to go forward. Amend the law to remove the limit and review each project on its own merits.
I agree if they want to build let them do it, also it’s time we do away with boats have them build on land that way if they want to leave let them and the state would have the property to sell and I also bet we could get more property tax money. Are the boats as taxable as land?
I know a former head of the Riverboat Gaming Commission. He tried to convince lawmakers to set standards for licensing and then allow as many licenses as wanted. Then let the chips fall where they may. It was the restriction in the number of licenses that got some lawmakers in trouble. Just ask EWE.