Tuesday, July 2, 2002 | 9:50 a.m.
With competition for Texas gamblers on the increase in the northwestern Louisiana gambling market, Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. on Monday unveiled a $25 million overhaul to its riverboat casino complex in Bossier City.
Besides a name change from Casino Magic to Boomtown, Pinnacle has renovated the pavilion, its restaurant-bar service and reconfigured its casino riverboat.
"We needed to be competitive in this market," Boomtown general manager Dale Darrough said. "Our property was six years old and it was getting dated and tired. We needed to infuse some money into it."
Boomtown has four riverboat casino competitors in the Shreveport-Bossier City market, which typically pulls in more money from gamblers than any other of Louisiana's casino areas. In May the five boats took in about $66 million from gamblers.
But Casino Magic, along with the Isle of Capri in Bossier City, have been bringing up the rear of the pack, behind Bossier City's Horseshoe and two riverboat casinos in Shreveport, Harrah's and Hollywood Casino.
"We believe we now have the amenities on the property not only to scare our competitors, but to grow the market itself," Darrough said.
There was a two-fold reason for the name change, Pinnacle officials said: marketing and confusion.
The Casino Magic brand name, originally the property of the old Casino Magic Corp., wound up in Pinnacle's hands through an acquisition. But Pinnacle later sold the original Casino Magic in Bay St. Louis, Miss., to Penn National Gaming.
"It is somewhat confusing to the consumer," Darrough said.
Pinnacle officials said the Boomtown name, with its country-western theme, will sell better to Texas gamblers.
"It will fill a void in the Shreveport-Bossier City market," Wade Hundley, Pinnacle's chief operating officer, said. "The country-western theme will appeal to Dallas and East Texas."
Darrough said competition extends far beyond Louisiana's borders.
"We may be a Shreveport market, but when we talk about a Dallas market, we are competing with Nevada and we are competing with New Jersey," he said. "You have to have those amenities to expect to be able to compete."
Hundley said that although Pinnacle would prefer not to have to compete with racetrack slots, which are in store for nearby Louisiana Downs, he did not expect that competition to have a major impact on the casinos.
"I think the slots will appeal more to local people and people coming from the East, which constitute only about 15 percent of our business," Hundley said.
Depending upon market conditions, Pinnacle has a tentative plan in the future to spend $115 million to replace its current riverboat and to add 300 rooms to its current 188-room hotel.
Pinnacle also owns the Boomtown riverboat casino in the New Orleans suburb of Harvey and has received a license to build a $225 million gambling resort in Lake Charles.
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