Late last week, voters rejected a new proposal to create a casino in St. Tammany Parish, LA. As a result, Peninsula Pacific Entertainment (P2E), which would have been responsible for developing the $325-million luxury casino resort called Camellia Bay Resort, will now have to seek out a new option. The location of the planned casino resort was close to the town of Slidell.
P2E Misses the Boat on Slidell Casino
P2E’s Bossier City DiamondJacks location closed earlier this year. The company sought to move its license to another location, which could prove more lucrative. St. Tammany Parish is one such location, located in southeast Louisiana near the Mississippi border.
Since May 2020, the DiamondJacks Casino has been closed. The casino owners fired 349 workers and held a liquidation sale in October 2021. One of the 15 state-run riverboat casino licenses was held by the casino.
Its owners offered to transfer it to St. Tammany under an amendment in 2018 state law that allows land-based gambling instead of limiting them to water.
P2E needed to get approval from St. Tammany residents before it could start the project. The referendum on the subject was launched and was contentious from the start.
However, the local vote was only attended by 30% of eligible voters, according to public data. The majority of those, 63%, voted against the commercial casino project. Only 36% of area residents voted for the Slidell casino development.
P2E also planned to invest $35 million in a new sports complex. The referendum result means that the company will have to figure out a new plan for its DiamondJacks Casino license. P2E’s financial situation has been impacted by the referendum vote, as P2E used millions of dollars to fund its campaign.
Opposition Too Strong for P2E
P2E is now at a crossroads. The operator must decide whether to search for a new venue for DiamondJacks or reopen the Bossier City location. P2E was not happy with the result of the referendum vote and was more than a little shocked.
Local supporters of this project also expressed concern about the outcome of their ballot. They believe that the outcome will result in losses for St. Tammany Parish and Slidell.
Slidell’s Chief of Police and mayor, along with other city officials, expressed their opposition to the establishment of a casino. Opponents of the proposal said that they were concerned about the possibility of a casino leading to increased crime and human trafficking. Others, however, feared that the casino’s establishment would increase gambling addiction rates.
Although supporters of the casino project claim that the result is not favorable for the parish, Stand Up St. Tammany, a non-profit organization, said that it considered the referendum result a huge win and that the community had spoken. The anti-casino group stated in a recent statement that it spent many hours spreading the information and that the people responded with their votes.
According to the organization, it was proud of the turnout and that “the West and the East side of the parishes STOOD STRONG TOGETHER to overwhelmingly vote one way!”
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