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Baton Rouge Casinos Strike Deal to Increase City Payments
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA --
The mayor-president of East Baton Rouge Parish, seeking to revisit the arrangement with the two riverboat casinos currently docked at the area's Misissippi River landings, has reached an accord with the casinos. Kip Holden and other local politicians have thought that the per-entry fee of $2.50 is not generous enough, and want to tax the casinos based on revenue.
Hollywood Casino and the Belle of Baton Rouge contribute almost $6.5 million to parish coffers by paying the fee for each passenger boarding. Holden has been pushing for a straight 6% revenue tax, which would be projected to yield over $14 million annually.
The mayor's legislation had passed the Senate, and was working its way through the House when the new deal was announced. Holden would not give details, but casino management said the proposal included consideration of the impact of a third casino, operated by Pinnacle, due to open in the area.
Also affecting the potential deal was the bankruptcy of Tropicana Entertainment, owner of the Belle of Baton Rouge.
Local politicians had conceded that some mechanism might need to be included allowing for possible hard times at the casinos, given the uncertain circumstances in the near future.
Still, the new arrangement is certain to bring substantially more money to the parish than previously received; coupled with taxes from the Pinnacle operation, Baton Rouge should enjoy quite a windfall from the casino concessions for years to come.
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