Louisiana Mississippi casinos stop new construction, loose jobs

Written by LAN SAYRE
NEW ORLEANS (AP) – With the recession tightening gamblers’ wallets, Louisiana and Mississippi state-licensed casinos registered drops in wagering revenue in April.
Mississippi casinos recorded an 11.7 percent fall from $232.8 million in March to $205.4 million in April, the State Tax Commission reported Tuesday.

In Louisiana, riverboat casinos, Harrah’s downtown New Orleans casino and the four slot casinos at racetracks won $202.6 million in April, down 7.1 percent from $218.1 million in March, state police reported.


It was the fourth consecutive month of revenue drops for Louisiana casinos, which, for some time, had resisted economic pressure and enjoyed strong figures while markets such as Nevada and New Jersey experienced double-digit drops.


Mississippi casino winnings from January to April dropped 7.9 percent this year to $872.8 million from $947.8 million for the first four months of 2008. In Louisiana, the drop was much less: 1.5 percent to $864.9 million from $878.5 million.


Industry analysts said Indian reservation casinos are offering competition for Texas customers of casinos in the Shreveport-Bossier City area of northwest Louisiana. Indian-operated casinos in Florida also are stepping up competition for Mississippi Gulf Coast casinos that draw from eastern Gulf states.


Larry Gregory, executive director of the Mississippi Gaming Commission, said the results show regional, drive-to markets are faring much better during the recession than larger gambling meccas.
“People are just not hopping on a plane and going,” Gregory said.
Mississippi Gulf Coast casinos won $92.7 million last month, down from $101.9 million in March, while those along the Mississippi River took in $112.8 million, down from the March figure of $130.9 million.
“We’re still seeing the same amount of visitors, but they’re apparently not spending as much,” Gregory said.


In Louisiana, the Shreveport-Bossier City market, which has five riverboats and the Louisiana Downs track casino, took in $64.8 million last month, down from $69.4 million in April. The Lake Charles market, with three riverboats and the Delta Downs track casino, won $53 million, a slide from $58.1 million in March. Both markets are heavily dependent upon Texas gamblers.


The New Orleans market, which has two riverboats, the downtown casino and the Fair Grounds track casino, won $54 million in April, a fall from $58.4 million in March. The two riverboats in Baton Rouge won $17.9 million in April, a drop from March’s $18.8 million.
The single riverboat in the Morgan City area took in $4.4 million last month, down from $4.6 million in March. The Evangeline Downs track casino at Opelousas won $8.6 million in April, a dip from $8.7 million in March.


The two states’ figures do not include Indian reservation casinos, which are not required to publicly report winnings.


The slowdown in both states is cutting casino employment and delaying new casino projects.
According to the American Gaming Association, casino jobs fell 6 percent – or 1,830 – year in Mississippi to 28,740, while employment in Louisiana dropped 4.1 percent – or 740 jobs – to 17,268.


In Biloxi, Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. has put the $700 million Margaritaville Casino & Resort project on hold. In Louisiana, Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. has received five-month delays in its plans for two riverboat casino projects totaling $600 million for Lake Charles and Baton Rouge. In addition to a slowdown in play, casino companies find construction financing virtually impossible to get because of the national credit meltdown.

Last Supper for James Cofer EdD this Saturday

When the parents of the meager number of 2009 Summer graduates of ULM enter Fant-Ewing Coliseum, they will greeted by an extra chair on the head stage for Her Highness the Commissioner of Higher Education, Sally Clausen EdD ($377,000 salary). Seems she called at the last second demanding a place.

The last time Sally came for a tête-à-tête with a president at ULM it was Lawson Swearingen, Jr. JD. During their private din-din in the Tower of Power, she lowered the sword of Damocles on Swearingen. He was gone in a few months after, although half of his salary was still paid from the ULM operating budget until last year.

This time Sally is coming to sup with James Cofer Ed.D ($252,886 salary on the table), and the odds are very good that they won’t be talking about the mostly women faculty and staff assassinated this summer by him and his Gang of Four; nor will they be discussing the myriad of successful academic programs he and the Gang of Four have killed; nor will they be talking about the miserable failure of his athletic programs.

No one in the legislature or the boards of higher education and control really cares a wit about faculty, staff, academic programs, or students for that matter. Sally and Jim will be talking about the $80,000,000 in debt that Cofer has saddled the state with for the construction of “dormitories.”

You see up to now Cofer has only been paying a smidgen of the interest on this money from the ULM budget. This school year he has to start paying all the interest and when the final domino falls in a couple of years he will have to pay the principal too. For a school with enrollment levels being maintained by concurrently enrolled high school students who do not occupy dormitories, where is the money going to come from?


So Saturday Jimmy will be served his last supper a la Swearingen by Sally and Airmark Inc. Sayonara Jimmy Boy.