In Louisiana, the House Committee on Administration of Criminal Justice voted 8-2 to approve a bill authorizing a voter referendum in October on whether a casino should be allowed near Slidell in St. Tammany Parish. House Bill 497, sponsored by state Rep. Mary DuBuisson now moves to the full House; if it’s approved, it will have to pass two Senate committees and the full Senate before the session ends on June 10.
DuBuisson said, “I want to give the people a chance to vote on this project.” She said Los Angeles-based Peninsula Pacific Entertainment, the prospective developer, would open a $250 million casino resort on Lake Pontchartrain using the license for the former DiamondJacks Casino in Bossier City which the company closed last year due to Covid-19. The state limits the number of riverboat casino licenses to 15; the other 14 casinos are operating. “We’re not increasing the licenses,” DuBuisson said.
Before the vote, witnesses spoke on behalf of the proposed casino, including Chris Massingill, chief executive officer at St. Tammany Corp., who called it a “premium Class A facility.” He said the Slidell casino would create 1,700 construction jobs and 1,900 permanent jobs. In addition, Massingill noted the parish would receive $7.5 million annually in gambling revenue plus $10 million annually for local governments.
He added Peninsula Pacific “maintains a gold standard in the industry and has a track record of being a good corporate citizen.” In addition, Massingill pointed out P2E agreed to pay the parish a 5 percent tax on its gambling revenue, in addition to the 21.5 percent tax it would pay to the state.
Opponents testified a casino would cause more Slidell residents to become gambling addicts. Randy Boyett, a pastor at Thompson Road Baptist Church in Slidell, and Will Hall, representing the Louisiana Baptists, cited state Department of Health figures indicating the number of problem gamblers has tripled since the state legalized gambling in 1993 and by 2016 more than 5 percent of adults had gambling problems. Another opponent, attorney David Cougle, acknowledged it’s an uphill battle. “When you have one side spending tens of millions with 19 to 20 lobbyists and on the other side are the concerned moms, it’s not a fair fight,” he said.
P2E commissioned Cygnal, a Washington, D.C., based polling firm, to see where the public stood on the casino. The company surveyed 300 likely voters over the phone on April 23-26, with 165 of them from the Slidell area. A strong majority, 93 percent, favored letting voters decide and 67 percent said they supported a casino. In the Slidell area, 89 percent said they supported a referendum and 66.5 percent said they approved a casino resort near Slidell. The P2E poll also gives some insight into why people favor the casino—-and the major concerns of those who oppose it.
Jobs and the economy were the main reasons given for favoring the casino by 56 percent overall and by 59 percent of respondents in the Slidell area. Fear of crime was cited by 30 percent of all opponents and 37 percent of Slidell residents as the reason they opposed the casino.
Louisiana Gaming Board Chairman Mike Noel said in an interview if the legislature does not authorize the vote in St. Tammany Parish, his board likely would P2E to reopen the Bossier City casino, with additional investment. If Stevens and P2E don’t want to do that, the board could ask them to return the license to the state. Noel said, “He can sell the corporate entity but not the license.”
The state could require each applicant to pay for the right to bid on the license.
The Senate Finance Committee has held up its version of the bill, Senate Bill 213 sponsored by state Senator Sharon Hewitt, for a few weeks. Conservative religious groups and casino operators oppose the proposed Slidell casino.
