Rumors are flying that the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, which is in the process of buying the Margaritaville Casino in Bossier City, Louisiana, probably will change the name to match its three Wind Creek casinos in Alabama. Margaritaville General Manager Barry Regula said, “They have a very powerful brand that they want to expand throughout the southeast, and I would expect that that would be their plan in this area, to move from Margaritaville to Wind Creek. I know for sure that the Wind Creek brands, each place has a very unique and distinct personality to it.” On an optimistic note, Regula added, ” I think that the vibe and the general philosophy of operation–laidback but professional–will still be integrated into what we do in the future.”
Wind Creek has the resources to actually make the changes envisioned by Margaritaville owners, Regula noted. “The new partnership with Wind Creek allows us to accelerate a lot of the plans that we already had, like adding a new hotel tower, covered parking garage, possible amphitheater, expanding into the north area of the property.”
Once the sale is complete, Margaritaville will be the first Native American casino in the area; it employs about 1,000 people. State Gaming Control Board Chairman Ronnie Jones said the Poarch Band “would be treated like any other gaming operator in the state.” He added Louisiana’s other three Indian casinos are not state-regulated because they are on tribal land. Margaritaville is not. “It’s not the tribe that will get the license, it’s a company that’s owned by the tribe. And the property is not on tribal land,” Jones said.
Other local rumors have the recently sold DiamondJacks Casino moving to La Place, outside New Orleans. Jones said he’s heard those rumors. “It’s like the ladies at the beauty parlor. There’s a lot of rumors and talking going on, but no body’s really serious at this point.” He added, even if a casino tried to move to another parish that has not voted to allow it, a local election would have to be held and the legislature would have to approve the move.
Jones stated, “The gaming board is going to be very conservative about entertaining any movement of properties. This is the first time since Katrina since we’ve had all 15 licenses in commerce. They’re all up and operating and running.”
California-based Peninsula Pacific, the new owners of DiamondJacks Casino, said they’ll invest $2 million for much-needed improvements at the facility. General Manager Mike Howard said, “They’re going to come in, take a look at some immediate needs of the property, and evaluate the long-term health of the facility and they’ll invest some money.” The property employs 550 people.
Jones said Lake Charles is the top casino market in Louisiana, followed by Baton Rouge and New Orleans. “The only market that’s hurting is the Shreveport-Bossier market. You can only slice that pie so thinly,” he said.
He explained, “Once Margaritaville opened up in North Louisiana, it was about at the same time there was a huge expansion of tribal gaming in Oklahoma. So a good part of the Northwest Louisiana market has been shaved off. A lot of the Dallas-Fort Worth people head to the first couple of exits in Oklahoma where there are huge tribal casinos,” Jones said. “We’re hoping that with improvements to the properties, they’ll expand their customer base and we’ll see some improvement in the NWLA market.”
