Riverboat casino favored in meaningless vote

Thursday, Nov. 7, 2002 | 11:18 a.m.

CAMERON, La. -- The votes now mean nothing, but residents of Cameron Parish who were able to cast ballots on the question of gambling favored bringing in a riverboat casino by a margin of nearly 8-to-1.

Officials in the southwestern Louisiana parish counted absentee ballots taken on a pair of local referendums before courts struck down the election last week before Tuesday's primary.

The Isle of Capri wants to move one of its two Lake Charles riverboat casinos to Cameron Parish to get closer to the Texas border. The company has laid out a $50 million project to the parish.

Parish officials put two referendums on the ballot: one to allow riverboat gambling in the parish, and another to designate the lower Sabine River as a waterway approved for dockside casinos.

A state appeals court ruled that the referendum would have to be cleared first by the Legislature and that only state lawmakers -- not local voters -- had the power to designate waterways for gambling. The Louisiana Supreme Court killed the referendum by refusing to take up the parish's appeal.

Of the absentee voters, the waterway proposal led on a 159-23 vote, while the riverboat proposal led by 160-22.