In St. Tammany Parish, Chandler and Jason Goltz recently filed a petition with the Louisiana Gaming Control Board to stop the transfer of a riverboat gambling license in Bossier City to Slidell, where Los Angeles-based Peninsula Pacific Entertainment wants to build a $325 million casino. The couple, who live near the proposed casino site, argue transferring the license is illegal and unconstitutional, and also premature. P2E holds the license to operate DiamondJacks Casino in Bossier City, which closed due to Covid-19.
The gaming board must approve the license transfer. In addition, St. Tammany voters must reverse the parish’s 1996 ban on casino gambling.
Earlier, a pair of lawsuits were filed in 22nd Judicial District Court to block a November 13 referendum allowing the Slidell casino. The Sl. Tammany Parish Council recently put the issue on the ballot.
Like those lawsuits, the Goltz’s petition claims state law requires parish voters vote yes or no on riverboat gambling “on a parish-wide basis” rather than tying approval to a specific location. The current ballot wording specifies the site near Slidell. The filing reads, “The Constitution requires a parish-wide vote to flip the entire parish from a ‘NO riverboat gaming parish’ to a ‘YES riverboat gaming parish’ before there may be any consideration of whether a riverboat gaming license may be transferred to any particular location within the parish.”
The petition alleges none of the legal prerequisites for transferring the license have taken place. It also questions whether it’s in the state’s best interest to allow such a move and states doing so would violate the gaming board’s fiduciary responsibilities. The filing reads, “Quite simply, financially, it would be much more advantageous for the state to allow open bidding for the transfer of this license from one party to another.” It notes failing to allow open bidding removes the possibility of significant financial gain for taxpayers.
An interested potential bidder is Dan Lee, whose Full House company owns five U.S. casinos including the Silver Slipper in Mississippi, which would directly compete with a Slidell-area casino. Lee said that he wanted to bid for the license and build a $500 million casino in Lake Charles.
The gaming board also must approve an agreement between P2E and the St. Tammany Parish Economic Development District in which 5 percent of net gaming revenue would to go to the parish. The filing states the 5 percent share is an “illegal tax not approved by the voters of St. Tammany Parish and /or the state of Louisiana.”
As a result, the casino operator could seek to have that provision stricken and end up paying nothing, the petition stated. However, casino representatives said the agreement will be part of the license and will be enforced by the gaming control board.
