Sale plans advance for DiamondJacks Casino in Bossier City
Peninsula Pacific Entertainment’s (P2E) intends to sell the venue to Foundation Gaming.
US.- Peninsula Pacific Entertainment’s (P2E) sale of its DiamondJacks Casino in Bossier City to Foundation Gaming is moving forward. According to Louisiana Gaming Control Board president Ronnie Johns, there is now a legal agreement in place for the sale, with plans for extensive renovations on the horizon.
Foundation Gaming, a Mississippi-based company that buys and refurbishes distressed casino properties, expects to present reopening plans to the board in June or July. It’s likely to take more than a year before the casino can reopen.
The plans will include moving the casino on land from the riverboat. There will be new hotel rooms, meeting rooms, restaurants and gaming rooms, and more. Foundation Gaming also wants to build a sportsbook.
“They’re a very reputable company,” Johns said about Foundation Gaming. “They have properties in a number of other states but primarily in Mississippi. They have a history of taking distressed properties and renovating them into much nicer and much more viable properties, particularly in Vicksburg and Tupelo, Mississippi.”
According to the chairman of the board, the sale is contingent upon a Louisiana State Police Gaming Division review of suitability for licensing. Once that is complete and the state police make a recommendation to the board, Foundation Gaming is expected to make a full presentation on plans for the property before the board votes on whether to transfer the licence.
DiamondJacks in Bossier City has been shut since May 2020, when P2E announced that it wouldn’t reopen the casino after pandemic restrictions were lifted. In October, the casino laid off 349 employees and held a liquidation sale, offloading everything from the kitchen and laundry equipment to flat-screen TVs and stage lights.
The operator made a bid to relocate its licence, arguing that the Shreveport area casino market was oversaturated. However, in December, voters in Louisiana’s St Tammany Parish rejected a referendum that would have allowed that.
P2E originally had until February 9 to resume gaming operations at the Bossier City property or relinquish its licence, but it asked for and received an extension in January to have more time to prepare a detailed reopening plan before the board on February 17. The regulator gave P2E an additional 60 days to figure out its plans, with the option to either sell the site or have its state gaming licence revoked.
See also: Louisiana online sports betting revenue hits record $28.4m in March
