Louisiana waiting for Illinois report on casino operator

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Louisiana gambling regulators are awaiting specific information from the Illinois Gaming Board on its refusal to grant Horseshoe Gaming owner Jack Binion a casino license.

Horseshoe owns a riverboat casino in Bossier City and is one of four applicants for Louisiana's 15th and final riverboat gambling license. Applicants are scheduled to make presentations to the Louisiana Gaming Control Board on July 26.

Gaming Control Board chairman Hillary Crain said Wednesday that he did not know what the impact of the Illinois decision would be.

"It's too early for us to tell yet. I don't know exactly the circumstances. We will get the information from Illinois to see exactly what they based it on. We will just have to make a judgment from that point," Crain said.

Horseshoe wants to add a second floating casino to the lucrative Shreveport-Bossier City gambling market.

Louisiana State Police already are conducting a suitability investigation into Horseshoe as part of the licensing process. Horseshoe will be allowed to make a presentation later this month, Crain said.

The Illinois Gaming Board unanimously refused last Friday to grant the license to Jack Binion of Horseshoe to own the Empress Casino Joliet. A staff recommendation said Binion was unsuitable because of his "background, character and integrity."

The other applicants for the Louisiana license are Pinnacle Entertainment, which wants a floating casino for Lake Charles; Isle of Capri, which wants a boat for Chalmette, near New Orleans; and Louisiana Horizons, which wants a riverboat near Amelia.

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