Casino Queen’s acquisition of the Belle of Baton Rouge riverboat could mean a rebranding into a DraftKings casino. DraftKings has a marketing agreement with Casino Queen, which owns the DraftKings at Casino Queen riverboat in East St. Louis, Illinois.
East Baton Rouge Parish voters approved sportsbooks during the election last month. The legislature needs to pass the rules that outline operations, which means the first wagers may have to wait until 2022, according to The Advocate.
“This could open the door for rebranding at a later date,” said Daniel Holmes, a partner and national practice leader with RubinBrown in Las Vegas, an accounting firm that does work in the casino industry.
A DraftKings sportsbook has been in place at the Scarlet Pearl Casino Resort in D’Iberville, Mississippi since 2018. And September saw the opening of a DraftKings Sportsbook in Manchester, New Hampshire. On December 7, the company struck a deal with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation for legal sports betting in Connecticut.
Mike Noel, chairman of the Louisiana Gaming Control Board, said it’s hard to say if the state would have a problem with rebranding the Belle as a DraftKings casino. “We’re waiting to gather more information.”
