Recently released Louisiana Gaming Control Board figures indicate since the Golden Nugget Casino opened next to L’Auberge Casino in Lake Charles one year ago, it did take players from competitors L’Auberge and Isle of Capri—but it also attracted more players to the area and as a result, took in more revenue. In fact, the three Lake Charles casinos won a total of 2 million from gamblers in the past year, a 46 percent increase over the previous year when there were just two Lake Charles casinos; admissions also rose 65 percent. State tax revenue generated by the three casinos was 7.4 million. Houston billionaire Tilman Fertitta opened the 0 million Golden Nugget next to L’Auberge in 2014.
In the past 12 months, L’Auberge took in $341.6 million, up 23 percent from the previous 12 months, giving it 46.6 percent of the market’s gambling winnings, compared to Golden Nugget’s 34.9 percent. Golden Nugget gained more admissions than L’Auberge over the year.
Control Board Chairman Ronnie Jones said, “I think it was a year of people checking out the new casino and a new market that Tilman Fertitta carved out of Texas. Lake Charles is the strongest market in the state right now. I think we’re going to grow more next year and in the following year, but the rate of growth is going to slow.”
In fact, November marked the lowest totals–$53.1 million–for the three Lake Charles casinos since the Golden Nugget opened, based on state regulator numbers, although it’s up 22 percent over last November. L’Auberge took in $23.6 million, down 25 percent from November 2014 and its lowest since November 2009, but still topped the others. The Golden Nugget had its third-worst month, with $19.7 million, and Isle of Capri dropped 16 percent since November 2014 to $9.9 million.
Although L’Auberge and the Golden Nugget are intensely competitive, they’ve worked out a unique arrangement with a boardwalk and trolley system that connect the two properties and a deal allowing customers to charge their bill restaurant tabs at one property to their hotel rooms at the other. They also stagger dates of headline entertainers. The casinos’ management meet on a weekly basis. “They’re working together where it’s appropriate to work together, but they’re fierce competitors,” Jones said. Along with gambling, the two properties offer a combined total of about 2,000 hotel rooms plus two 18-hole golf courses and an array of restaurants and boutiques.
