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Gaming board approves reducing Horseshoe Bossier required hotel rooms to 600; denies narrowing lawsuit notification requirement
Summary
The Louisiana Gaming Control Board approved a requested amendment to Horseshoe Bossier City's statement of conditions to lower the required hotel-room count to 600, but denied the licensee's requested change to limit required notifications about lawsuits.
Horseshoe Entertainment LP, operator of Horseshoe Bossier City Casino and Hotel, told the Louisiana Gaming Control Board on Feb. 20 that it sought two technical amendments to its license statement of conditions: a reduction in the required hotel-room count and a narrower requirement to notify the board about litigation.
"We are halfway through a hotel renovation that will complete in June ... we actually are touching every hotel room at our property," Whitney Willingham, senior vice president and general manager at Horseshoe Bossier, said in presenting the request. The licensee asked to reduce the hotel-room condition from 606 rooms to 600, citing conversions to suites that left the property with 604 rooms.
Assistant Attorney General Catherine Gitz advised the board that the office and the division did not oppose the room-count reduction but recommended denying the licensee's requested change to condition 14, which would have limited lawsuit notifications to "material" lawsuits not covered by insurance. "As currently written, condition 14 is a standard clause in all Riverboat Gaming licensee statements of conditions," Gitz said. She warned that the word "material" could be subjective and that insurance coverage does not remove the board's need to know about lawsuits that may affect suitability.
The board considered two alternate resolutions prepared by the attorney general's office and voted to adopt the resolution that approved the room-count reduction while denying the requested change to the lawsuit-notification clause. Judge Scholes moved the resolution; Mr. Jackson seconded it. A roll call recorded the following votes: Miss Becknell — yes; Mr. Jackson — yes; Miss Lewis — yes; Mr. Poole — yes; Miss Hamilton Acker — yes; Mr. Scholes — yes; Miss Traylor — yes; Chairman Aber — yes. The motion carried and the board amended condition 6 to read, in part, that the property "shall include a 600 room hotel, 4 restaurants, several bars and cocktail lounges, and a Concert Hall." The denial leaves the existing condition 14 in force.
Why this matters: The action resolves a compliance mismatch the licensee said resulted from room reconfigurations during renovation while preserving broad reporting obligations the board uses to monitor licensees' legal risks and suitability.
Clarifying details: The licensee stated it currently operates 604 rooms and requested an allowance to reduce the condition to 600. The attorney general's office noted the board could have approved 604 or 600 but recommended against changing the litigation-notification language. The approvals are conditioned on executing an updated acknowledgment and acceptance of the licensee statement of conditions.
No amendment to the litigation-notification clause was approved.
