St. Tammany Parish residents would have to vote to allow casinos first

Peninsula Pacific in talks with officials to build a $250M casino resort in Louisiana

P2E CEO Brent Stevens said the site just off the Interstate 10 twin spans near Slidell is the best single casino development site he has ever seen. Overall, the casino and resort is projected to generate about $10M per year in tax revenue.
2021-02-02
Reading time 2:47 min
Local officials said they support letting the voters decide, and the Louisiana Legislature will need to pass a bill in the upcoming spring session to put such a measure on the ballot. If it gets all the approvals, the company said it hopes to break ground in December and be operational near Slidell in early- to mid-2023. P2E already operates other gaming venues in the state.

Los Angeles-based casino operator Peninsula Pacific Entertainment, known as P2E, said Monday it has started discussions with local officials on a proposal to build a $250 million casino and resort on a waterfront site near Slidell, in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana.

The proposed development, which includes a 250-room hotel, would cover about 50 acres of a 100-acre plot of open land east of the Blind Tiger restaurant. P2E CEO Brent Stevens told The New Orleans Advocate Monday that the site just off the Interstate 10 twin spans near Slidell is the best single casino development site he's ever seen. Among the advantages, Stevens said, is the proximity to Lake Pontchartrain, Lakeshore Marina and accessibility on the interstate.

The talks are preliminary and there are several big regulatory hurdles that the company will need to clear first. St. Tammany Parish residents will have to vote to undo the 1996 referendum in which St. Tammany was among the Louisiana parishes to reject casinos and video poker. The Louisiana Legislature will need to pass a bill in the upcoming spring session to put such a measure on the ballot. That didn't happen three years ago when P2E showed an interest in moving the license for the DiamondJacks Casino and Resort from Bossier City to a different site, in southern Tangipahoa Parish. 

The company has yet to make a public pitch, but it has already started trying to secure support from some elected officials. Parish President Mike Cooper, Parish Council Chairman Mike Lorino and Slidell Mayor Greg Cromer said that they support letting the voters decide. Chris Masingill, CEO of St. Tammany Corp., the parish's economic development agency, said he thinks that the St. Tammany legislative delegation is "supportive conceptually." 

The 1996 vote showed 62% against casinos and 52% turning thumbs-down to video poker. But Cooper said he thinks public sentiment has changed when it comes to gaming. He points to the vote last November on sports betting, which passed with 67% of the vote in St. Tammany and carried every precinct.

Lorino said that the company's successful track record in other states, as well as in Louisiana with the Evangeline Downs Racetrack and Casino, is an advantage. He also noted the casino would be on land, not a gambling boat.

The casino would also need the approval of the state Gaming Control Board, which it has not yet applied for. If it gets all the approvals, the company said it hopes to break ground this December and be operational in early- to mid-2023. The still unnamed casino would be the fourth large gambling venue in the metro area, joining Harrah's in New Orleans, Boomtown in Harvey and Treasure Chest in Kenner. A casino and resort in Slidell would likely attract a lot of St. Tammany gamblers who now take their money to the casinos on the Mississippi coast.

Construction is expected to bring nearly 1,700 jobs, according to the company, and 1,900 jobs during operation, more than 1,000 of which will be directly generated by the casino. The casino will pay 5% of its gaming revenue to the parish, according to the company, which is projected to generate about $7.5 million annually. Overall, the casino and resort is projected to generate about $10 million per year in tax revenue for local government.

P2E has also agreed to put $30 million toward a community sports and family entertainment complex in eastern St. Tammany that would provide a place for local recreation but also draw large-scale tournaments that bring in visitors. Voters in 2015 rejected a tax proposal to finance such a facility, the proposed Camellia Park near Slidell.

The company also agreed to pay $5 million toward a long-sought levee to protect the Slidell area. Stevens said that those agreements came from listening to local officials and that now the company plans a "listening tour," to find out what the community wants.

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