Casino Orleans
River City Casino was a twin riverboat casino complex (Grand Palais and Crescent City Queen) in New Orleans, Louisiana, located one block upriver from New Orleans Morial Convention Center. It was the brainchild of Christopher Hemmeter (operating the Grand Palais riverboat) with a 50/50 joint venture with Capital Gaming International (operating. Margaritaville Resort Casino. #1 of 6 Casinos & Gambling in Bossier City.
| Harrah's New Orleans | |
|---|---|
| Location | New Orleans, LA 70130 |
| Address | 8 Canal Street |
| Opening date | October 30, 1999 |
| Theme | French Quarter |
| No. of rooms | 450 |
| Total gaming space | 115,000 sq ft (10,700 m2) |
| Notable restaurants | The Besh Steakhouse |
| Casino type | Land-based |
| Owner | Vici Properties |
| Operating license holder | Caesars Entertainment |
| Renovated in | 2005, 2006 |
| Website | caesars.com/harrahs-new-orleans |
Harrah's New Orleans is a casino in New Orleans, Louisiana, near the foot of Canal Street a block away from the Mississippi River. It is a 115,000 sq ft (10,700 m2) casino with approximately 2,100 slot machines, over 90 table games and a poker room.[1] The casino is owned by Vici Properties and operated by Caesars Entertainment.
There are several places to eat ranging from buffet style to fine dining. Since its opening in 1999 Harrah's has been renting nearby hotel rooms to accommodate its guests; currently, the newly renovated 202-room Wyndham Riverfront Hotel is providing such accommodations. In order to avoid leasing rooms, the casino opened its own 27-story hotel tower with 450 rooms across the street from the casino on September 21, 2006, just days ahead of the New Orleans Saints return to the Louisiana Superdome. It is the only land-based private casino with table games in the state by Louisiana law (there are other casinos in the state with their gambling facilities on floating boats and horse racingracinos with slot machines). It is referred to in state statute as 'the official gaming establishment'.[2]
The casino shut down in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 but reopened in the midst of Mardi Gras on February 17, 2006.
The location of the casino was most recently previously the site of the Rivergate Convention Center, demolished in 1995. A short tunnel built as part of the canceled Vieux Carré Riverfront Expressway is used for valet parking and for an entrance passing underneath Poydras Street.
History[edit]
The casino is the brainchild of Christopher Hemmeter, a hotel developer in the Hawaiian Islands who returned to the mainland in 1991 when he began to develop casino gaming projects including the nearby River City Casino. His biggest project was a proposed $1 billion casino in New Orleans. Billed at the time as 'the world's largest casino'.[3] The original design resembled Monte Carlo's 1861 casino, intending to evoke the New Orleans 1885 Cotton Exposition and Chicago's 1893 World Columbia Exposition.[3] The developers estimated the casino would attract one million additional visitors to the city and would generate annual revenues of as much as $780 million, estimates that were based in part on the proven success of dockside gaming in the Mississippi Gulf Coast area.[3]
In 1993 a partnership of Hemmeter and Caesars World obtained the lease on the Rivergate property, which by law was the only place the land-based casino could be built in Louisiana, beating out a rival bid by Harrah's Entertainment. In August 1993, however, the State Casino Board awarded the state's sole casino license to Harrah's and not the Hemmeter-Caesar's partnership. The impasse of one company owning the only license and another owning the only lease was resolved when the two entities formed a joint venture under pressure from then-Governor Edwin Edwards.[4] The new entity, known as 'Harrah's Jazz', established a temporary casino in the Municipal Auditorium in order to establish a cash flow while the main facility was under construction at the Rivergate. The temporary facility opened in May 1995 and a week later was closed due to a flood. The poor location of the site resulted in the actual gaming take falling 60% below projections at only $13.1 million per month.[4] Equally concerning was that 60% of gamers at the temporary facility were locals and not out-of-town tourists, undercutting the economic benefit backers hoped gambling would provide to the tourist industry.
Harrah's Jazz halted construction on the permanent facility at 3 AM the day before Thanksgiving, 1995 and laid off 1,600 construction workers and 2,500 casino employees, and filed for bankruptcy. Later, the project was taken over by Harrah's, who completed (albeit scaled-back with only the first floor in use to this day) and opened in late October 1999 Harrah's New Orleans Casino on the site of Hemmeter's project.[3]
In July 2020, Eldorado Resorts acquired Caesars Entertainment (the former Harrah's Entertainment), taking over operations of the property.[5] In connection with that acquisition, Vici Properties bought the real estate of Harrah's New Orleans for $790 million and leased it back to Eldorado (newly renamed as Caesars Entertainment).[6][7]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^Shapiro, Dean M. (23 June 2007). 'Two New Additions to Harrah's Fulton Street Mall'. New Orleans Online. Archived from the original on 28 June 2007.
- ^'Subpart B. Offenses Affecting General Morality'. Louisiana State Legislature. LA.GOV. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
- ^ abcdMcKinney, Louise (2006). New Orleans: a cultural history. Oxford University Press. pp. 165–166. ISBN978-0-19-530135-9.
- ^ abMyerson, Allen R. (2 June 1996). 'A Big Casino Wager That Hasn't Paid Off'. The New York Times. Retrieved 2 February 2010.
- ^Ken Ritter (July 20, 2020). 'Eldorado finishes $17.3B buyout of Caesars Entertainment'. Associated Press. Retrieved 2020-07-20.
- ^'Vici Properties Inc. completes property acquisitions and lease modifications related to the Eldorado-Caesars merger' (Press release). Vici Properties. July 20, 2020 – via BusinessWire.
- ^Form 10-K: Annual Report (Report). Vici Properties. February 20, 2020. p. 56 – via EDGAR.
External links[edit]
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to Harrah's New Orleans. |
Coordinates: 29°56′59″N90°3′55″W / 29.94972°N 90.06528°W
River City Casino was a twin riverboat casino complex (Grand Palais and Crescent City Queen) in New Orleans, Louisiana, located one block upriver from New Orleans Morial Convention Center.
It was the brainchild of Christopher Hemmeter (operating the Grand Palais riverboat) with a 50/50 joint venture with Capital Gaming International (operating the Crescent City Queen riverboat). The two riverboat complex partially circumvented Louisiana state law (repealed in 2001) requiring riverboat gaming vessels to make the required 90-minute cruise once every three-hour period weather permitting. There would always be at least one vessel docked while the other would sail so patrons would never have to wait in line to board a gaming vessel. The riverboats opened for only nine weeks from March 29 - June 13, 1995.[1] The terminal building complex was still in the ongoing interior construction phase when casino revenue was far below projections, additional funding was not secured and work was abruptly halted with construction tools, blueprints and materials left in place.
Bankruptcy[edit]
The riverboats and its licenses were eventually sold off and transferred to other companies. Isle of Capri in Lake Charles acquired the Grand Palais (with license) in 1996. Isle's parent company, Casino America paid $55 million for the Grand Palais Riverboat in January 1996, with a package of cash, notes, stock, warrants, and by assuming $10 million of Grand Palais' existing liabilities.[2]Boomtown New Orleans acquired the Crescent City Queen riverboat without license in 1998 (renamed as Boomtown Belle II) to replace the smaller Boomtown Belle riverboat. Crescent City Queen's gaming license was transferred in 1996 to Casino Magic, which then operated a docked riverboat casino in Bossier City, later renamed Boomtown Bossier City. Boomtown's parent company, Pinnacle Entertainment revived the River City Casino name for its newest property in the St. Louis, Missouri area when it opened in March 2010.
Current status of riverboat terminal complex[edit]
After being shuttered since its closure in June 1995, the terminal building complex was acquired by Mardi Gras World owner Barry Kern in early 2008 and became one of the venue offerings of Mardi Gras World (New Orleans tour attraction and events venue).[3][4][5] The acquisition more than quadrupled Mardi Gras World's event space. After more than 13 years of dormancy, the River City Complex finally saw new life during the Krewe of Boo inaugural parade on Halloween night 2008. It was also the site of the Gulf Aid benefit concert with Lenny Kravitz as the headlining act during the BP oil spill crisis on May 16, 2010. Since then, the River City Complex has become New Orleans' premiere event venue and has hosted events for the NFL, Microsoft, Lexus and more.
In popular culture[edit]
The Crescent City Queen riverboat was featured in an episode of the USA Network TV series The Big Easy in 1996 while it was still docked at the shuttered River City Casino terminal complex. The interior of the CCQ was also used in the pilot episode of the short lived CBS TV series Orleans starring Larry Hagman in 1997. In the movie Déjà Vu, the white terminal complex could be briefly seen in the background with a cruise ship docked next to it in the scene where Denzel Washington and Val Kilmer investigate the Canal Street Ferry explosion underneath the Crescent City Connection bridge.
References[edit]
- ^http://www.businessweek.com/archives/1995/b3446105.arc.htm
- ^Jones, Dow (3 January 1996). 'COMPANY NEWS;CASINO AMERICA TO BUY ANOTHER RIVERBOAT CASINO'. New York Times. Retrieved 1 February 2010.
- ^http://blog.nola.com/tpmoney/2008/01/mardi_gras_world_plans_expansi.html
- ^http://wwl.com/pages/1957621.php?
- ^http://blog.nola.com/tpmoney/2009/01/blaine_kern_studios_will_open.html
External links[edit]
Casino Boat New Orleans
- Hemmeter Companies > River City past project portfolio
- New Orleans Virtual Archive: River City Casino (Tulane University School of Architecture)
- River City Casino: Grand Palais casino chips (ChipGuide.com)
- River City Casino: Crescent City Queen casino chips (ChipGuide.com)
- Satellite view of the former River City Casino riverboat terminal complex in New Orleans, Louisiana (Google Maps)
- Satellite view of the Grand Palais riverboat (now docked at The Isle of Capri Lake Charles Casino in Westlake, Louisiana) (Google Maps)
- Satellite view of the former Crescent City Queen riverboat (now docked at Boomtown New Orleans Casino as Boomtown Belle II in Harvey, Louisiana) (Google Maps)