Pinnacle says Baton Rouge casino plans moving forward

Larry Orlansky, a New Orleans attorney representing Pinnacle, told the state Gaming Control Board that casino zoning applications should be filed in April in East Baton Rouge Parish.

The project is a proposed us$ 250 million gambling complex on a 560-acre tract south of the LSU campus. Infrastructure construction also is continuing on Pinnacle’s Sugarcane Bay casino project in Lake Charles, he said.

A month ago, the board overseeing gambling granted Pinnacle Entertainment a 90-day delay on construction timelines for its proposed riverboat casinos in Baton Rouge and Lake Charles. At the time, executives of the Las Vegas company painted a stark picture of deteriorating national credit markets and the effects on the gambling industry.

Pinnacle officials have said they canceled construction or expansion plans in New Jersey, Colorado, Indiana and Missouri to ensure the Louisiana boats are completed. Gaming Control Board member Franklin “Ayres” Bradford of Ruston questioned whether there has been any “thawing of the credit markets” since then.

Orlansky said not much has changed for the better since the February meeting. He said utility installation is progressing in Lake Charles and that expanding the roads to four lanes will begin in about three weeks. A July completion date is still anticipated, he said.