Committee clears bill to let casinos transfer promotional credits among brick‑and‑mortar licenses (SB 294)
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Summary
Senate Bill 294, sponsored by Senator Talbot and amended to clarify affected chapters, was reported as amended. The bill would allow casinos to move unused promotional‑credit allowances between brick‑and‑mortar licenses; industry witnesses urged additional guardrails to avoid market distortion and suggested tying credits to revenue.
Senate Bill 294, presented by Senator Talbot, would allow brick‑and‑mortar casino operators greater flexibility to transfer unused promotional credits among their licenses rather than treating each license as a fixed $5,000,000 credit. Talbot said the change is intended to improve efficiency where some locations underutilize their credits while others could use additional promotional play.
The committee adopted Amendment Set 13‑35 (clarifying chapter references) by unanimous consent. Wade Doody, executive director of the Louisiana Casino Association, testified the measure is not a cap expansion and is intended to make existing credits more effectively used. He explained the bill only applies to brick‑and‑mortar promotional credits and does not touch sports‑wagering promotional allowances.
Mark Stewart of the Cordish Companies and other industry representatives supported the concept but asked for amendments to prevent a single licensee from concentrating credits to more than twice the current cap (more than $10,000,000) and to provide rules so operators without multiple properties are not disadvantaged. Stewart and other witnesses also described the local economic impact of gaming and urged solutions tied to revenue measures.
Senator Talbot moved to report SB 294 as amended and the committee approved the motion by unanimous consent. The amended bill will move to the Senate calendar for further consideration.
Next steps: The sponsor said he would continue discussions with industry to consider further amendments addressing market fairness.
