The story of casino companies in Louisiana: How they cracked open the door then pushed it open even wider
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Louisiana legalized gambling in 1991. The state has since expanded its gambling industry and relaxed its rules. It's estimated that the industry employs 15,000 to 20,00 people. Legislators are addicted to gambling revenue. The Harrah's casino in New Orleans pays lower taxes than promised, is building a second hotel and planning to open restaurants. Last year, lawmakers approved fantasy sports betting. This year they authorized betting on sports matches and legalized a new type of slot-like machine at offtrack betting parlors. They advanced a measure that would put a casino on Slidell.
Louisiana's gambling revenue has remained virtually flat since 2007. The state's public policy economist says it has dropped by 27%. The customer base for casinos skews older and the state needs to attract younger gamblers to avoid losing business to death or infirmity. Metro New Orleans has little room for more gambling. Each gambler in the area lost $1,575 per year compared to the national average of $952. 1991 legislation limited the number of floating casinos at 15. Riverboats earned 25% more when they remained moored.
Louisiana's riverboat casino industry pushed for more changes to their operations. The Golden Nugget and L’Auberge in Lake Charles had opened grand gambling palaces. They wanted to move their casinos onto land. Lawmakers enacted the changes in 2018. Harrah's New Orleans was the only land-based casino allowed in the state. It was approved in 1992 by a single vote. It generated 25,000 jobs and $250 million in tax revenue per year. But it also attracted 8 million visitors per years to Louisiana.
By the mid-1990s, new forms of gambling in Louisiana were cannibalizing business from the state's four horse-racing tracks. In 1997, the Legislature allowed slot machines at Delta Downs, Evangeline Downs and Louisiana Downs. It also allowed the New Orleans Fair Grounds to have up to 700 slots. Harrah's had to swallow that pill as part of its 2001 deal to pay a lower state tax and build a hotel. Video poker is legal in 33 parishes and popular at truck stop casinos. About 75% of all the money that gamblers lose on video poker machines comes at the Louisiana's 198 truck stops casinos, according to State Police figures.
The story of casino companies in Louisiana is how they cracked open the door and pushed it open even wider.
