Jackson Jambalaya

The Louisiana Legislature is the gift that keeps on giving to Mississippi.  New Orleans is probably the best city for casinos in America.  That is "casino" with an "s" - the plural form of the word.  However, Edwin Edwards and his cronies couldn't help themselves but sold, yes sold, a casino monopoly in New Orleans to Harrah's. The monopoly doesn't expire for six more years but that is just a mere technicality.  The Morning Advocate reported Tuesday:

A Louisiana Senate committee Monday narrowly approved a no-bid, 30-year extension in Harrah's New Orleans' operating license but only after requiring the casino company to pay hundreds of millions of dollars more to the city and state.

The Judiciary B Committee approved House Bill 553 on a 4-3 vote after adopting amendments that would cost Harrah's a $40 million one-time payment to renew the license and an additional $40 million in annual tax payments that would raise the minimum from $60 million per year to $100 million.

Over 30 years, that $40 million increase in present day value would amount to an additional $1.2 billion in tax payments to the state. Another amendment would guarantee New Orleans $6 million per year in ''casino support services,'' up from the $3.6 million originally included in HB553, or $72 million over 30 years.

''I think it represents a better deal,'' state Sen. Gary Smith Jr., the committee chairman, who offered the amendments, said in an interview immediately afterward. Representatives of Caesars Entertainment, Harrah's parent company, had no prior word of his amendments, he said.

A Caesars spokesman afterward lauded the decision to keep HB553 alive but said company executives were still reviewing the amendments to determine whether they were acceptable.

Joseph Jaeger Jr., a New Orleans hotel owner and developer who testified against the measure, called the amendments ''a good start'' to improving a deal that he believes would shortchange the public.

HB553 now goes to the Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee on Tuesday. It must pass the committee to advance to the full Senate and then return to the House for approval, during the waning days of the regular legislative session, before the governor would decide whether to sign the measure into law.

If the bill ultimately passes the Legislature, Harrah's is promising to invest $350 million to build a 24-story hotel, add an upscale food court and flashy nightclub and create a one-block entertainment district on Fulton Street between its existing hotel and parking garage. A Smith amendment would require Caesars to spend the money within six years, with the Louisiana Gaming Control Board certifying it did so.

Harrah's could not reduce the $350 million investment or reduce promised tax payments to offset the $40 million onetime payment, Smith said.

However, the effort did fail at the end of the week.  The Times-Picayune reported Friday:

Before it adjourned for the regular session, the Louisiana Legislature could not reach a compromise Friday (May 18) on an extension of Harrah's New Orleans casino gambling license. The bill died in a conference committee, dealing a major blow to plans for a new $350 million hotel.

Supporters of the deal had cited the extension as part of a unique economic development opportunity. Critics questioned whether negotiating a deal with six years left on Harrah's current permit and without putting the license up for a bid was the best deal for the city and state.

Those disagreements plunged House Bill 553, authored by House Speaker Taylor Barras, R-New Iberia, into intensive negotiations Friday as he and Senate President John Alario, R-Westwego, tried to resolve significant differences in payments Harrah would agree to make as part of the deal. But those negotiations apparently failed.

"We are disappointed that HB 553 could not proceed," said Dan Real, regional manager for parent company Caesar's Entertainment Corp. "This means that the city of New Orleans and State of Louisiana lose 600 construction jobs, 900 permanent jobs and $28 million in incremental tax revenues and payments through 2024, when Harrah's license lapses."....

But ultimately, Senate President John Alario said that negotiations fell apart after state officials began honing in on the payments Harrah's would be required to pay under the bill, and whether those payments were enough.

"It got to be really complicated when we were trying to figure out what's in the state's best interest -- what the state should be getting in compensation for giving a monopoly to one entity," Alario said. "We thought we were coming close to a compromise at the end, but then when our staff got into it, we found a great complication in drafting the proposal to get it done."

Negotiations bogged down over the upfront and annual payments sought from Caesar's, according to the Senate president..... Rest of article.

Not one single person wants to let the casino monopoly expire and open up New Orleans to the rest of the casino industry.    The Mississippi Gulf Coast should say thank you because if there is a city in America that is a natural fit for casinos, it is the Crescent City.  Louisiana would probably get more money in tax revenue if it had multiple casinos.  These clowns probably don't realize that they are screwing themselves instead of Caesar's. 

Don't worry, the Louisiana Legislature will extend the monopoly.  I know my peoples.  They can't help themselves.  If there is a corrupt and short-sighted way to do something, that is the path Louisiana will take and that applies to casino monopolies in New Orleans.  Never change, Louisiana, never change.