Davis' casino play may face obstacles

A proposal by Parish President Kevin Davis to create an entertainment district that would include a riverboat casino along the lakeshore to the east of Interstate 10 near Slidell has caught the parish by surprise and started tongues wagging.

Davis said the announcement of the proposal is “premature” and he is still gathering data before making any formal announcement. He said he has been batting around the idea with parish officials and private interests for about five months. He stressed that starting gambling in the parish is not the primary goal of the entertainment district. He said he sees it as a way to offset increasing property taxes for residents.

“I’ve been looking at ways to lower property taxes,” Davis said. “I am not opposed to reducing government, but we expect certain services, and we can’t lower taxes right now.”

He added that other parish taxing bodies have had to increase property tax millages in order to meet rising costs. He sees the sales and property taxes that might be generated from the entertainment district as offsetting current property taxes and lowering residents’ tax bills.

“That’s my only reason for doing this,” Davis said.

The parish president envisions a district with one to two high-class hotels, the casino, entertainment venues for national and international entertainers and a what he calls a lifestyle center made up of high-class stores, modeled on what is currently being built at the Fremaux interchange in Slidell and the mall to the west of Covington.

He said data shows 57 percent of parish residents do their shopping outside of the parish. With the advent of the lifestyle centers, all that sales tax revenue would stay here.

As nice as all that sounds, the idea of putting a riverboat casino in the proposed district has some people balking at the whole idea. Back in the 90s, voters rejected any form of gambling in the parish, including video poker. Davis admits he voted against gambling himself back then.

“There was no local government control, and I thought it was a bad idea,” Davis said.

Now, he said, the casino is just one small part of what he sees as a money maker for the parish. He said a casino is needed to attract people to the other parts of the proposed project.

“You have to create a destination. You need a resort element,” Davis said.

He points to data from Mississippi Gaming Commission that shows 24 percent of Louisiana residents head to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, not only to gamble, but to also see world-class entertainment and go shopping. Davis wants to keep those customers here in the state and parish, and he sees the area on the lakefront, owned by developer Robert Torres, as the perfect place.

Davis said the area already has a convention center, the Harbor Center, it is right off the Oak Harbor exit on I-10, and all the infrastructure such as roads, water and sewage are already in place.

“It just makes sense,” Davis said.

However, Davis stressed that after talking to people in the parish, he is still doing his homework.

“Some people have just said ‘oh my God’, and others seems interested but want more information,” Davis said. “So that’s what I’m doing right now, collecting data.”

He doesn’t know when he will do it, but he would like to put the proposal before parish voters. He said the referendum would only allow gambling in that small area.

“You couldn’t put a casino in Madisonville or Mandeville,” Davis said. But he added if the parish wants to get private businesses in the project, the casino will have to be there.

There are only 16 gaming licenses in the state, and several of the licensees were put out of business by Hurricane Katrina. Davis is hoping to attract one of those license holders to bring a casino to the parish. He said if the voters accept the idea of an entertainment district, the parish will put out an RFP for proposals and bids.

Slidell Mayor Ben Morris said the project could be beneficial to the parish if done correctly.

“If we keep Louisiana politics out of it and assure the citizens this is a crime-free operation, it might be a good thing,” Morris said.

Both he and Davis see the project as providing many jobs and creating more tax revenue. Morris said he would like to see Slidell get “something” out of the project.

Davis said he will leave it up to the voters to decide, but he wants to present all the information before any election.

“They (voters) should have the right to say what they want,” Davis said.