[fla_tiger]

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e173/fla_tiger/Pinnacle_.jpg
article, rendering courtesy of BR Business Report
http://www.businessreport.com/news/2007/sep/18/pinnacle-casino-approved/

The Louisiana Gaming Board has approved Pinnacle Entertainment's request to transfer a casino license from Lake Charles to Baton Rouge and build a resort on River Road called Riviere, which is French for river. The first stage, which still must be approved by voters, will include a 70,000 square foot riverboat casino, called Casino Riviere, with about 1,500 slot machines and 50 table games, along with restaurants, an entertainment venue with about 1,000 seats, and a 100-room hotel, Pinnacle says. They say the $250 million project will create 1,100 direct jobs with a $33 million payroll. The project next goes to the Metro Council, which would be responsible for setting the date for the voter referendum. Pinnacle hopes for a vote in February. The gambling boat the centerpiece of a massive entertainment/retail/residential complex with a golf course on more than 550 acres around River Road and Gardere Lane. Although there is no timeline for the next phase and approval of Phase One does not legally commit Pinnacle to the larger project.

[LouisianaRush]

I really hope EBR voters pass this through.

[Boris]

I really hope they could legalize gambling in Texas.

[LouisianaRush]

That would destroy Louisiana's gaming industry. Thank God this is not going to happen though; Texas is way too conservative to pass gambling laws.

[LouisianaRush]

South BR is really booming. This addition would be awesome.

[DruidCity]

Texas is way too conservative to pass gambling laws.


I've always wondered how Mississippi was able to do such a great job with its casinos, given the generally "conservative" nature of the state ?
Even in Alabama, of all places, the dog tracks have "video bingo" machines that are basically slot machines.

Is Texas' reluctance to allow casinos due in part to the fact that it is so much wealthier as a state than LA-MS-AL that citizens generally don't feel they "need" the additional economic impact casinos can provide ?

I'm trying to picture the business a mega-casino could do in one of the larger Texas cities. In the mean time, it's good to see Louisiana getting another big project. Baton Rouge looked pretty nice when I passed through the city this summer a couple of times.

[SouthSky]

This development is just 5 minutes south on River Road from my house. I think the investment is great, but Louisiana/East Baton Rouge Parish will need to work on the infrastructure as River will probably have to be four lanes leading away from the development. Traffic would be horrendous.

But, I am very enthusiastic about the developments going on to the south!

[LouisianaRush]

Mississippi needed the casinos out of necessity to boost it's economy. If Mississippi had the income of TX I do not believe there would be casinos in the state. When I lived in Houston, most people I worked and knew with were straight out hostile to the idea of opening up a casino in the Astrodome or Galveston when it was proposed in 2004.


Louisiana has a huge catholic population (majority Catholic in the southern Parishes). Many Catholics do not have issues with gambling as do most Baptist/Protestants. Louisiana also needed the economic boost as well.

[KevinFromTexas]

Mississippi desperately needed the tourism dollars. Look who its neighbors are. Texas, Louisiana and Florida, all tourist hot spots.

Most of the reasons I've heard for being against gambling in Texas is fears of crime or the conservatives pretending to care about people's gambling addictions and how it would ruin their lives. Since all of our bordering states have casinos, that doesn't matter much. The only thing that truly keeps them from legalizing it is that Texas is well off.

[totheskies]

That looks exciting, and will be a real job boost for the area's former NO residents.