CQ outlines plans for Baton Rouge casinos

Belle of Baton Rouge and Hollywood Casino Baton Rouge are to move to dry land.

US.- CQ Holding Company, the new owners of the Belle of Baton Rouge, plan to ask the Louisiana Gaming Control Board for permission to move onto dry land as a “boutique-type casino.” A request will be presented to the Gaming Board in June and, if everything goes as scheduled the casino could open on land in 11 to 15 months.

Terry Downey, the company’s president and CEO, said the first phase of the move would entail the opening of a coffee shop, an oyster bar, a café, a sports bar and a sportsbook. CQ wants to start as soon as possible the renovation of the casino’s hotel, which has been closed since 2020.

Meanwhile, the Hollywood Casino Baton Rouge broke ground on a $60m expansion last year, hoping to become the first Baton Rouge riverboat casino to come off the water. The work, which is set to be completed in the second half of the year and will add 38,000 square feet to the casino atrium.

The casino plans to add a sports bar/entertainment venue with seating for 250, a sports viewing area and a Shaquille O’Neal’s Big Chicken Restaurant. The second phase would add a hotel.

“We think we’ve got a good handle on the Baton Rouge market. We’ve got a really solid plan that we think is the right thing to do based on where the city is coming out of COVID”, Downey stated, according to The Advocate. “Everything old will become new. We’re going through the branding process.”

The Baton Rouge venues were formerly owned by Caesars Entertainment. CQ also owns the DraftKings at Casino Queen in East St. Louis, Illinois, and Casino Queen Marquette in Marquette, Iowa.

See also: DraftKings opens temporary sportsbook at Hollywood Casino in Louisiana