Louisiana Harrah’s CEO looking for a pony for Christmas

Guy Coates

Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2000 | 1:54 a.m.

BATON ROUGE, La. - The chairman of the company that keeps the New Orleans casino going said he was advised by his analysts to walk away from the gambling palace.

"But, I guess I'm a little bit like a kid at Christmas. I think there's a pony under the tree," said Phil Satre, head of Harrah's Entertainment Inc.

His company owns about 40 percent of the casino and is the guarantor that state government will get $100 million a year.

Unless that fee is decreased, Harrah's Entertainment will back off as a guarantor, Satre said. That means the casino would shut down.

"The industry and our constituents - shareholders, employees, communities we operate in, analysts - probably would prefer we walk away from New Orleans.

"The analysts clearly say Harrah's Entertainment should stop working so hard to make this work," Satre said.

"The advice you're getting from them has been good," Rep. Troy Hebert, D-Jeanerette and a member of a House-Senate legislative committee that deals with gambling, said during a Wednesday hearing.

Any reduction of the minimum payment must pass through the panel.

Hebert said his views are shared by a number of legislators who represent rural areas and who view the casino as a New Orleans problem.

The lawmaker said that Harrah's agreed to go along with the first contract and the second one, both calling for the $100 million payment. "Y'all are big boys. You knew what you were doing," Hebert said.

Why should the state lower the payment because Harrah's made inaccurate projections on the revenue that would be brought in by the casino. The revenue is far short of projections, leaving the ownership company, JCC Holding Co., with no place to go but get lower fees or close.

Satre said Hebert misunderstood, that Harrah's is not asking for a break.

The state agrees to take $60 million or gets "zero" because the casino will close, said Satre.