Published: Thursday, February 17, 2011, 11:10 AM Updated: Thursday, February 17, 2011, 11:22 AM
The state's last riverboat casino license was awarded this morning to a $400 million project in Lake Charles, which beat out two other projects, including one proposed for
The state Gaming Control Board voted unanimously to award the 15th and final license to Creative Casinos, owned by former Pinnacle Entertainment chairman Daniel Lee, to develop the Mojito Pointe casino-resort with an 18-hole golf course and a 400-room hotel along the Calcasieu River in Lake Charles.
The project was chosen over Penn National Gaming's proposal for a $145 million Hollywood Casino Harvey on the Harvey Canal and St. Gabriel Downs' proposal to build a $167 million Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on the shores of Lake Charles.
Board member Robert Jones said Mojito Pointe would generate the most revenue and jobs, noting that it is projected to employ 2,000 people, more than the other two projects combined.
"It will be a world-class facility that all Louisianans can be proud of," he said.
Penn Gaming's proposed casino would have been built on an old industrial site about three-quarters of a mile south of the West Bank Expressway and three miles from Boomtown Casino, which opened in 1994.
Lake Charles area voters must approve the Mojito Pointe project in an April 30 referendum. Creative Casinos has said the resort would be completed by the end of 2013.
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