The Riverboat Economic Development and Gaming Task Force, created by Louisiana lawmakers in 2016 to update riverboat gambling regulations, help the state’s casinos remain competitive and promote the industry as an economic development tool, recently returned its report. The group said current laws do not acknowledge the industry has changed since the state first regulated riverboat casinos in 1991.
Among its recommendations, the task force suggested allowing riverboat casinos move to land and gaming floors to expand. “It’s really about that economic development and promoting that economic development that this task force has been guided by,” said former state trooper Ronnie Jones, task force chair and chairman of the Louisiana Gaming Control Board.
State Senator Ronnie Johns said he’ll sponsor a bill including the task force’s proposals in the legislative session that begins in March. Although the changes may be considered “baby steps,” he said, lawmakers have not had a “meaningful conversation about this industry” in years. “We can make some meaningful changes. We can promote a reinvestment in this economy in Louisiana. I think we can create some jobs. We’ve started with something we think is very manageable, something that I think has an excellent opportunity to pass,” Jones stated.
Louisiana’s 15 riverboat casinos provide more than 20,000 jobs with a payroll of more than $348 million. They generate more than $400 million in annual tax revenue for the state. The last major law change regarding the casinos was passed in 2001, when a requirement that the riverboats cruise periodically was dropped, allowing them to be permanently docked, in exchange for a higher tax rate on gaming revenue.
Jones said Louisiana is one of the last states that requires casinos to remain in the water. One of the recommendations would allow the casinos to offer gambling activities within 1,200 feet on land from where the riverboat is berthed, so they would no longer be required to have an operable paddlewheel or a marine crew.
Another recommendation would remove the requirement limiting riverboat casinos to 30,000 square feet of gambling space.
“There’s nothing magical about that number. I was here when they decided that’s it,” Jones said. Instead, gambling positions would be capped at 2,365. The industry wants this change to accommodate larger slot machines with more features.
Louisiana Casino Association Executive Director Wade Duty said, “The physical footprint of gaming devices is increasing, as more features are included. If you stayed with a square footage limitation, we’re already at the point where we’re having to make decisions about keeping a fewer number of devices in the same space.”
The task force’s proposed changes now will go to the legislature.
