The Cordish Firms earlier this month tentatively reached an settlement with Basis Gaming to accumulate the long-shuttered Louisiana riverboat that was referred to as Diamond Jacks till it closed in March 2020.
Diamond Jacks On line casino in Bossier Metropolis, La., is seen in 2016. The Louisiana riverboat closed in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. The Cordish Firms is searching for to buy the distressed former riverboat and switch the property right into a premier gaming and leisure vacation spot. (Picture: The Shreveport Instances)
The Baltimore-based gaming and hospitality agency, which operates Reside!-branded casinos in Maryland and Pennsylvania, offered its Diamond Jacks redevelopment plans to the Louisiana Gaming Management Board (LGCB) in the course of the company’s assembly on Monday.
Cordish officers informed state regulators that, with the state’s blessing, the corporate would spend greater than $250 million to remodel the dilapidated riverboat and lodge right into a premier on line casino resort and leisure vacation spot. The funding would end in a wholly new land-based on line casino and a full renovation of the present lodge. The prevailing riverboat can be faraway from the Pink River.
Cordish reps informed gaming regulators that the resort can be referred to as Reside! On line casino & Lodge Louisiana. That aligns with the agency’s different on line casino resorts, together with Reside! On line casino & Lodge Maryland and Reside! On line casino & Lodge Philadelphia. Cordish moreover operates Reside! On line casino Pittsburgh — a boutique on line casino that doesn’t have a lodge.
Mission Particulars
Cordish Managing Accomplice Joe Weinberg stated Reside! Louisiana would come with 47,000 sq. ft of gaming area. It will have greater than 1,000 slot machines and digital desk recreation positions, plus 30 conventional stay seller tables and a sportsbook.
The lodge renovation would end in 400 up to date visitor rooms, 25,000 sq. ft of customizable multipurpose occasion area, and quite a few eating and consuming choices. A PBR Cowboy Bar can be within the early plans.
Reside! On line casino & Lodge Louisiana will carry a first-class gaming, eating, leisure, and hospitality expertise to the area, create vital new jobs, and generate thousands and thousands of {dollars} in financial advantages for the neighborhood,” stated Weinberg acknowledged.
LGCB Chair Ronnie Johns expressed his help for the Cordish plan.
“The status of The Cordish Firms all through the nation to personal and function first-class casinos, eating places, motels, and leisure locations is exemplary,” Johns stated in the course of the Monday assembly.
Basis Gaming agreed to purchase Diamond Jacks in Could 2022 from Peninsula Pacific Leisure (P2E) for an undisclosed sum. The LGCB permitted the sale in December after Basis offered the state with a $200 million renovation, together with a brand new land-based on line casino.
Riverboats Transfer Inland
In 2018, Louisiana lawmakers amended the state’s 27-year-old gaming legislation to permit riverboats to maneuver inland as long as they continue to be inside 1,200 ft of their authentic barges. The 2018 regulatory change additionally allowed casinos to broaden past the earlier cap of riverboats restricted to 30,000 sq. ft of gaming area.
The LGCB signed off on Cordish’s plan for Diamond Jacks, however the gaming agency should nonetheless endure a suitability evaluation. That will probably be performed by the Louisiana State Police, with the legislation enforcement company set to current its background findings to the LGCB within the coming months.
Ought to Cordish be discovered appropriate to own a state gaming license in Louisiana, the LGCB is predicted to formally approve the corporate’s acquisition of the gaming concession and Diamond Jacks property from the Basis.
