Gambling regulators give 60 days to sell casino owners wanted to move to Slidell – The Advocate

The owners of DiamondJacks Casino effectively told state gambling regulators Thursday that if they cant have Slidell, they dont want Bossier City.

Clearly frustrated by P2E executives who had failed to persuade St. Tammany Parish voters to allow them to build a resort on Lake Pontchartrain to house in Slidell their casino that they would have moved from Bossier City the Louisiana Gaming Control Board answered fine, sell the license in 60 days or have it taken away.

We stand here today and nothing has been done. I dont think a blade of grass has been changed at the property, said Louisiana Gaming Control Board Chair Ronnie Johns, noting that DiamondJacks owners had promised to reopen the Bossier City casino, which closed in March 2020, if the St. Tammany referendum failed, which it did in December.

The choice really came down to how long it would take to get the license for DiamondJacks Casino Bossier City back into commerce, Johns said after the meeting.

Taking the license from the company would launch a process that would take up to five years for the state to complete with all the necessary bids and background checks. Louisiana grants 15 licenses that allow gambling in specific parishes that have agreed. Once the license is awarded, the new owner also would need additional time to complete construction of facilities and open its doors.

A company that sought but failed to win voter approval to build a casino in Slidell is expected to win a bit more time Thursday to decide on w

If the license is sold to another company, then the entire process could be completed in about two years.

Peninsula Pacific Entertainment, called P2E, is the Richmond, Va.-based company that owns DiamondJacks. Company officials began secret negotiations about two weeks ago with Foundation Gaming Group, of Robinsonville, Miss. Foundation owns casinos in Tunica and Vicksburg. The company buys and refurbishes distressed properties, Johns said.

P2E head Brent Stevens and other top executives skipped the nine-member Gaming Control Board hearing that had been scheduled to hear plans for reopening their Bossier City property. The company instead sent a New Orleans lawyer, Peter Connick, and Robert Smith, who is taking care of the abandoned property overlooking the Red River and with its own exit on Interstate 20.

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P2E owners had wanted to move their license from northwest Louisiana to property outside Slidell on Lake Pontchartrain, where they had hoped to build a $325 million casino resort to be called Camellia Bay. But in December to voters of St. Tammany Parish refused to allow casino gambling, which left P2E required to reopen its facility in Bossier City.

Drew Brees may have been all-in for locating a casino near Slidell, but the St. Tammany Parish voters were not at least the ones who partici

Connick said P2E executives had "conceptualized" what it would take to redevelop the Bossier City property if the St. Tammany vote didnt go the companys way.

After the referendum failed, he said, the company determined that the options considered were not viable business operations for the company.

Smith said the vessel on which the casino sits is out of compliance and its certification has lapsed. Air conditioning and plumbing need repairs before an inspector can even be brought on board. Most of the equipment and furnishings in the hotel and restaurant have been sold and would need to be replaced.

The facility has gotten to where its not marketable, said Commissioner Harry Avant, of Shreveport.

City officials are concerned about the condition of the near-abandoned facilities and that police have been called to the property 122 times in a one-year period.

While the boards job is to look after Louisiana taxpayers, we also have an obligation to the city of Bossier City to secure that property, Johns said. That property could sit vacant for years.

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Gambling regulators give 60 days to sell casino owners wanted to move to Slidell - The Advocate