The Louisiana Gaming Control Board closed down the state’s 20 commercial casinos and nearly 200 video poker truck stops on Tuesday, March 17 for two weeks, to try to limit the spread of the coronavirus. Impacted casinos include Harrah’s New Orleans land-based casino, 15 riverboat casinos and four racinos. Soon after Governor John Bel Edwards ordered all bars and movie theaters to close, and limited restaurants to delivery and drive-thru orders only.
The casino closure will remain in effect for at least 14 days but could be extended beyond that. The governor’s proclamation currently extends through April 13.
Gaming Board Chairman Ronnie Jones said he made the decision to shutter casinos after consulting with the governor’s office throughout the prior weekend. The board gave casino managers the required eight to 10 hours needed to shut down operations. Jones said the state will lose an estimated $1.5 million a day, or $22 million over two weeks, based on the latest three-year averages. That excludes tax revenue loss to local governments
Wade Duty, the executive director of the Louisiana Casino Association, said his members had expected to be shut down. “There’s absolutely no pushback,” he said. Whether laid off employees will continue to collect their salaries is up to each property owner, he said, however he believed most would continue to pay workers.
One of those is Caesars Entertainment, which said it will pay salaried employees and give tipped employees their average wage. Caesars owns Harrah’s New Orleans, Horseshoe Bossier City and Louisiana Downs, also in Bossier Parish.” The 4,500 team members at Penn National Gaming’s L’Auberge Casino and Hotel also will receive salaries and benefits during the closure.
Las Vegas-based Eldorado Resorts closed its Isle of Capri Lake Charles, Belle of Baton Rouge and Eldorado Shreveport on Monday, March 16.
Native American tribes do not have to follow the gaming board’s order but elected to close their Louisiana casinos, including the Coushatta Tribe, the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana and the Chitimacha Tribe.
