New owners plan to move Belle of Baton Rouge onto land, reopen hotel
$6,000 Welcome Bonus
The new owners of the Belle of Baton Rouge plan to ask the Louisiana Gaming Control Board for permission to move onto land and open a “boutique type casino.”
The move would involve putting 350 slot machines and 12 to 15 table games in the Belle of Baton Rouge’s Atrium, said Terry Downey, president and CEO of CQ Holding Company. A family coffee shop, oyster bar, café, sportbook and sportsbar would also be part of the first phase.
The hope is to go before the gaming board in June, Downey said. If the gaming board approves the plans next month, the Belle could open on land in 11 to 15 months, he said.
“We think we’ve got a good handle on the Baton Rouge market,” Downey said. “We’ve got a real solid plan that we think is the right thing to do based on where the city is coming out of COVID.”
While the Belle is moving onto land, CQ Holding would start to renovate the casino’s hotel, which has been closed since 2020. Plans are to initially renovate about 160 rooms in the 288-room hotel.
Reopening the hotel “feels like a no-brainer,” Downey said.
Moving the Belle onto land and renovating the hotel might cost “a touch more” than the original plans for moving Hollywood Casino Baton Rouge onto land, he said. When that project was announced in August 2020, the costs were pegged at $21 million to $25 million.
The Belle will remain open while the casino moves onto land.
“Everything old will become new,” Downey said. “We’re going through the branding process.”
The Belle was the first casino to open in Baton Rouge. But the property has fallen on hard times. It's on an aging riverboat and analysts have noted that it's a long walk from the casino parking garage or hotel to the gaming floor.
The Belle brings in the least amount of revenue of any of the state’s 13 riverboats. In March, the riverboat had revenues of less than $1.5 million. In comparison, Hollywood had $5.3 million in revenue and L’Auberge brought in $19 million.
CQ bought the Belle from Caesars Entertainment in a deal that was finalized Thursday. The Illinois-based company already owns Hollywood Casino after it bought the property in December for $28.2 million.
The two casinos may share ownership and a player’s club program. But the Belle and Hollywood will be different from each other. There will be different restaurants at each casino and Hollywood will feature a DraftKings sportsbook, while the Belle will have its own branded sportsbook.
“I grew up in the Las Vegas market, where you have 30 to 40 locals casinos in one valley,” Downey said. “There are many different ways to differentiate between the two properties…They will both feel brand new.”
Hollywood, which is also set to get a new name, is on track to open its $60 million landside expansion by late spring 2023. Along with the DraftKings sportsbook, the casino will have a Shaquille O’Neal’s Big Chicken Restaurant and a noodle restaurant.
CQ also owns the DraftKings at Casino Queen in East St. Louis, Illinois, and Casino Queen Marquette in Marquette, Iowa.
The company is bullish on the Baton Rouge casino market, which has long been dominated by L’Auberge Baton Rouge. With Hollywood and the Belle both moving onto land, CQ sees a chance to shift some market share, Downey said.
“We’re pretty high on what the market can do,” he said. “With the Belle doing this phased growth, we can control our exposure. We don’t have to disturb the market, we can just grow.”
The legalization of sports betting also helps the Baton Rouge casino market. Downey said there was “a tremendous amount of money” leaving the area from people going to place sports bets at Mississippi casinos. Now, customers can place sports bets at home, which can lead to more money going into slot machines or table games.
The Belle will take up a little more than one-third of the atrium after it moves onto land. If the expansion goes well, CQ has room to put in more slot machines and slot machines, along with adding entertainment venues and nightclubs.
“We’re really excited,” Downey said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do on it and a lot of rehabilitation. But there’s so much room there.”
