DiamondJacks On line casino in Bossier Metropolis Presents $200M Redevelopment
The shuttered DiamondJacks On line casino in Bossier Metropolis, La., a COVID-19 casualty, is readying its comeback.
DiamondJacks On line casino in Bossier Metropolis has sat closed and vacant because the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. The brand new possession group of the Louisiana on line casino plans to speculate $200 million into the getting older riverboat to carry gaming ashore and revamp the resort. (Picture: Shreveport Instances)
Mississippi riverboat operator Basis Gaming acquired the shuttered Bossier Metropolis on line casino in Might from Peninsula Pacific Leisure (P2E) for an undisclosed sum. Basis owns and operates the Fitz Tunica On line casino & Lodge and WaterView On line casino & Lodge in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
P2E quickly closed DiamondJacks on state orders amid the pandemic. The corporate opted to completely shutter the riverboat after figuring out that Bossier Metropolis was not a beautiful working market.
After unsuccessfully in search of to relocate its Louisiana gaming license to Slidell simply north of New Orleans, P2E was left with three choices: reopen DiamondJacks in Bossier Metropolis, promote the property and gaming concession, or just give up the working allow. They selected possibility 2, promoting to the P2E Basis, which claims to concentrate on refurbishing distressed riverboats to higher compete in crowded markets.
Revamp Plans
Louisiana Gaming Management Board (LGCB) Chair Ronnie Johns informed the Shreveport Instances this week that Basis’s DiamondJacks renovation plans may very well be permitted as early as December.
Basis has proposed investing $200 million to carry DiamondJacks ashore, as allowed by means of the state’s 2018 gaming legislation allowing riverboats to maneuver inland as much as 1,200 ft from their authentic barges. The spend would lead to a wholly new on line casino area. The challenge funds additionally permits the present resort to be totally renovated, together with the property’s 560 guestrooms, assembly areas, and eating places.
I’ve been very impressed with Basis, and I really feel very assured they are going to inject new life into the property, which is sweet for Shreveport-Bossier and for Louisiana,” Johns mentioned.
Basis plans to current its $200 million blueprint throughout the LGCB’s December assembly. At the moment, Johns mentioned the board will determine whether or not to log off on the event.
If the board lends its approval, Basis mentioned building would start in early 2023. They anticipate having the brand new vacation spot completed and prepared for enterprise within the spring of 2024.
Johns Scolds P2E
Peninsula Pacific purchased DiamondJacks in 2016 from a neighborhood group of traders. The prior homeowners operated the riverboat beneath the entity Louisiana Riverboat Gaming Partnership. Johns doesn’t imagine P2E ever had the true intent of creating DiamondJacks worthwhile and assuring the on line casino’s future longevity.
Peninsula purchased the property to go to St. Tammany,” Johns opined.
It’s been a few years since DiamondJacks was thought of a essential participant within the Shreveport-Bossier gaming market. Through the 2019 fiscal 12 months, DiamondJacks’ gross gaming income totaled $35.2 million — only a sliver of the greater than $1.86 billion in statewide gaming income generated that 12 months among the many state’s 15 casinos.
Shreveport-Bossier is house to 6 casinos — Boomtown, Bally’s, Horseshoe, Sam’s City, Margaritaville, and DiamondJacks. GGR within the fiscal 12 months 2019 for the native market totaled greater than $626.4 million, which means DiamondJacks managed lower than a 6% market share.
Johns believes it was all the time P2E’s focus to try to relocate the DiamondJacks on line casino license close to New Orleans. Voters within the St. Tammany Parish final 12 months rejected a neighborhood referendum throughout a particular election held in December. The referendum sought their approval to permit P2E to construct a $325 million on line casino resort on Slidell’s Lakeshore Marina.
