Louisiana could allow more gamblers on riverboat casinos

Louisiana's 15 riverboat casinos currently have to abide by a 30,000 square-foot limitation on where gambling can take place in their facilities. Senate Bill 316 would get rid of that restriction and put a cap on of 2,365 gambling positions in each riverboat casino instead. A gambling position includes everything from a seat at a slot machine to spaces around blackjack and poker tables, under the proposed law.

Supporters of the legislation insist the bill would not expand gambling in Louisiana, but no riverboat casino currently has 2,365 gambling seats under the 30,000-square-foot restriction. The Golden Nugget in Lake Charles -- Louisiana's newest casino -- comes closest with 2,152 positions.

Among 15 riverboats, Louisiana has 21,223 gaming positions now under the 30,000 square-foot restriction. The proposed cap would allow 35,475 positions.

The state gaming control board also said the 15 riverboats run an average of 18.9 square feet per gambling position. If that space constraint stayed in place, it would take 49,159 square feet to accommodate the 2,365 gambling positions that would be allowed under the legislation. That is well over the 30,000 square-foot restriction currently imposed.

The average riverboat has 1,471 gambling positions now and uses 27,843 square feet of gambling space, according to information provided by the state gaming control board.

Currently in the New Orleans area, the Treasure Chest Casino in Kenner has 1,224 gambling positions with 23,680 square feet of gambling space. Boomtown Casino in Harvey has 1,392 gambling positions with 29,725 square feet of gambling space.

Harrah's New Orleans, which is not regulated like a riverboat casino, has 2,495 gambling positions with 125,119 square feet of gambling space, according to the state gaming control board.

The sponsor of the legislation, Sen. Ronnie Johns, R-Lake Charles, said the 2,365-position cap was devised by taking the number of seats operating in the Golden Nugget -- again the highest number of gambling positions -- and adding an additional 10 percent to that number. Though no current riverboat casino operates with that level of gambling capacity, he insists that the legislation doesn't represent an "expansion of gambling" in Louisiana.

"This bill does not expand gambling in this state," Johns said Wednesday (May 2).

Johns said only measures that would allow new forms of gambling -- like bills to legalize fantasy sports, sports betting and internet gambling -- should qualify as an expansion of the industry in Louisiana.

Johns' legislation is already close to gaining full legislative approval. The House Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice voted 10-4 in favor of his bill Wednesday (May 2). It has already passed the Senate and goes next to the full House for approval. Gov. John Bel Edwards has indicated he will sign it if it reaches his desk.

Johns and riverboat casinos representatives have said they wanted to move from a space limitation to a gambling seat cap in order to accommodate "new technology" -- basically, bigger gambling machines -- in their facilities. The new machines are so much larger than old machines that casinos were having trouble fitting them into the 30,000-square foot space, industry members said.

Somewhat contradicting that stance, Johns and supporters of his bill have also argued that the 2,365-seat cap would be more restrictive than the 30,000 square-foot space limitation because current law allows casinos to have as many gambling seats as they can fit into their space.

Only five of the 15 riverboat casinos are coming close to hitting the 30,000 square-foot restriction in place now. Most have a few thousand square feet that they could add under the current rules, according to information provided by the state gaming control board.

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Johns has pitched his bill as an economic development measure. For riverboats to move on land -- as his legislation would allow -- their owners would have to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into new facilities. The state gaming control board would also have to sign off on the project, and would require some sort of economic incentive for approval.

"Some casinos aren't going to move onto land because it will be too expensive," Johns said.

But if Johns' legislation was adopted, riverboat casinos wouldn't necessarily have to come to the gaming control board to add more machines and gambling seats to their existing facilities. Every boat could add to its gambling capacity, and there would be no requirement for any economic development to go along with it.

Riverboat casinos could put machines and new table games in a new area without any approval, so long as they meet the security and surveillance rules already in place for gambling areas. The bill requires no oversight of adding seats, once the state gaming control board decides what the definition of a gambling position is.

Johns argued that the change in gambling positions would allow the casinos in Louisiana to keep up with those on nearby Native American reservations. The Coushatta Casino Resort in Kinder has 3,500 gambling positions -- and no cap on how many it can add, Johns said.

Johns' legislation also allows for four gambling tournaments per year to be held at each riverboat casino. The tournaments could only last a maximum of 14 days, and seats used during the events would not count toward the state cap on gambling positions.

Gambling has become one of the major producers of revenue for Louisiana, ahead of the oil and gas industry. In the last fiscal cycle, riverboat casinos, racetracks, video poker outlets and the lottery brought in about $900 million in state funding. Oil and gas brought in less than $600 million.

Gambling entities -- including video poker outlets and riverboat casinos -- pay a high tax rate, usually around 30 percent. Native American casinos pay no taxes and many other industries that are major employers in Louisiana require subsidies, Johns said.

"This industry doesn't not qualify for one penny of any kind of tax incentive," he said.

If Johns' bill passes, Louisiana's four racetracks will seek similar legislation to change the restriction around their gambling space. Currently, racetracks can only have 15,000 square feet of gambling space. But Rep. Major Thibaut, D-New Roads, has legislation that would get rid of that restriction and replace it with a cap of 1,632 gambling positions.

House Bill 91 has already passed the House and is awaiting approval on the Senate floor. One racetrack, Delta Downs in Vinton, already has 1,632 gambling positions. The Fair Grounds in New Orleans is up against the current space restriction for gambling, using 15,000 square feet of gambling space already.

The average number of gambling positions at the four racetracks is 1,115 and the average gambling space used is 13,332 square feet currently, according to the gaming control board.

If Thibaut's bill is passed, the cap on gambling position across the four race tracks would be 6,528. There are currently 4,461 gambling positions at Louisiana's four race tracks, according to information provided by the state gaming control board.