Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. filed a petition Monday for a third Baton Rouge casino with the Louisiana Gambling Commission hours before the 5 p.m. deadline. The entertainment group requested to move a riverboat casino license from Lake Charles to Baton Rouge for a possible entertainment resort to be located south of downtown at the corner of Bluebonnet Boulevard and River Road. According to Trudy Smith of the Louisiana Gambling Control Board, the next step for the possibility of a third casino will depend on the findings of the Louisiana State Police. The LSP will conduct an investigation looking into all aspects of the transfer. Once the investigation is complete, which has no completion deadline according to Smith, the LSP’s findings will be presented to the attorney general’s office. If all legal matters are in order, the attorney general will present its findings to the commission. If the commission approves the proposal, East Baton Rouge Parish residents will then have the chance to vote for the third casino during the March 31 elections. If the casino’s petition passes voters, rumors are that a 750-room hotel would be constructed near the site. Pinnacle spokeswomen Pauline Yoshihashi said those reports are false, and as of now no concrete plans have been approved. Yoshihashi said no final decision would be reached until the entertainment group meets with parish and city officials to discuss plans for the casino. “We need to sit down with the regulators,” Yoshihashi said. “We would like to get input from all officials, including the community.” Recently, Pinnacle bought a 35-acre tract on River Road near Bluebonnet Boulevard for $1.1 million. Pinnacle also purchased Harrah’s Entertainment’s two riverboat licenses in Lake Charles for $70 million and had one license available to move to another city. One of those licenses is being used to build a new riverboat casino and hotel resort in Lake Charles near Pinnacle’s existing L’Auberge du Lac Hotel & Casino. The deal comes after Louisiana casino boat companies said they need more casino boats in the state to compete with Mississippi’s new lower taxes and recent decisions to loosen gambling restrictions. Gov. Kathleen Blanco opposes the concessions and said to The Advocate the current amount of Louisiana gambling boats can compete with Mississippi’s expanding industry. Currently the gambling industry in Louisiana is tightly controlled and limits casino gambling to one land-based facility. The state allows 15 riverboats in cities where the public has voted to allow them. Baton Rouge city spokesmen and Blanco’s spokesmen could not be reached before deadline.
—–Contact Brennan David at bdavid@lsureveille.com
Pinnacle files for third B.R. casino
October 31, 2006