Seven months after New Orleans shutdown, number of machines makes slight comeback

Alan Sayre

Monday, Feb. 28, 2000 | 9:36 a.m.

NEW ORLEANS - Seven months after 4,874 video poker machines were shut down in 33 parishes, the number of gambling devices has risen slightly in the remaining areas where the games are still legal.

On June 30, the lights were turned out on the machines in parishes that decided to outlaw video poker in local-option referendums held in November 1996.

Among the major parishes that did away with video poker in restaurants, bars, off-track betting parlors and truck stops were East Baton Rouge, Lafayette, St. Tammany, Rapides and Ouachita.

As of June 30, just before the shutdown, there were 15,914 machines operating in Louisiana. The next day, 11,040 remained on line. As of Jan. 30, the number stood at 11,792, according to state police. The number does not include those in casinos.

Alton Ashy, the industry's lobbyist with the Louisiana Amusement and Music Operators Association, said many machines have been shifted to areas where the games are still legal and additional truck stops are popping up to attract players from machine-less parishes.

"A lot of people had substantial investments and they basically picked up and moved them," Ashy said.

For example, in West Baton Rouge Parish, just across the Mississippi River from East Baton Rouge Parish, the video poker truck stop business has grown to six outlets and two more are in the works. In St. Helena Parish, one of the poorest in the state, truck-stop casinos are becoming a growth business with four outlets taking advantage of neighboring parishes that booted out video poker.

"It will be as it should be with any other business," Ashy said. "When a saturation point is reached, people will quit building (truck stops) and moving across parish lines."

Gambling critic C.B. Forgotston said he was not surprised by the current pattern of video poker, but concerned that machines are coming back at the rate of about 100 per month.

"This is one of the reasons we opposed Gov. Foster's local-option plan in 1996. His plan will not, in the long term, reduce the amount of gambling in Louisiana, but merely redistribute it geographically within the state," Forgotston said.

But the number of video poker devices may not be accurate gauge of how many players are now in front of gambling machines - and how the number might grow in the future.

The two riverboat casinos in Baton Rouge, Casino Rouge and Argosy, have both shown sharp increases in revenue since the machines were shut down in bars, restaurants and truck stops in East Baton Rouge Parish. Both have special video poker rooms.

By this summer, if all goes according to plan, Louisiana Downs at Bossier City will have a slot-machine parlor, the first of three horse-racing tracks expected to switch from video poker.

Evangeline Downs, which won voter approval to build a new track in St. Landry Parish after Lafayette Parish tossed out video poker, also plans to have slot machines. The slot-machine parlor can operate for a year before the track opens.

Last November, voters in Calcasieu Parish narrowly approved slot machines for Delta Downs, two years after rejecting the measure on a 2-to-1 vote.

Tracks will have to turn off their video poker machines when slot play begins. Slots will not be allowed in off-track betting parlors, but video poker can remain in those parishes where the machines are legal.

And the constitutional amendment allowing voters to throw out video poker also allows local governments to call second referendums to reinstate the devices. So far, no parishes have asked the Legislature to authorize a second vote.

"There's no huge groundswell right now," Ashy said. "I think it will be a year before people start looking at local budgets and decide whether they want to go talk to their legislators and get it back. The industry is not going to push it. We live by a vote of the people."

Forgotston said video poker does not have to worry about reinstatement.

"Of course, they'll live by the will of people. The most addicted people to gambling in Louisiana are local governments. So, the local governments will lead the charge. The video poker people will not even have to do any lobbying," Forgotston said.