Gaming briefs for June 15, 2004

Tuesday, June 15, 2004 | 11:09 a.m.

Board OKs sale of Horseshoe to Harrah's

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Harrah's Entertainment Inc. may buy Horseshoe Gaming Holding Corp., the Louisiana Gaming Control Board agreed 9-0.

The $1.4 billion sale had been approved a week earlier by the Federal Trade Commission, and before that by state regulators in Mississippi and Indiana, where Horseshoe also owns casinos.

Spokesman Gary Thompson said Harrah's hopes to close on the deal by July 1. "We're just gratified the board approved the deal," Thompson said.

Horseshoe's casinos are in Bossier City, Tunica, Miss., and Hammond, Ind.

Harrah's, which recently sold its Shreveport casino to Boyd Gaming Corp. for $190 million, also owns and operates Harrah's Louisiana Downs in Bossier Parish.

When it announced its plans to buy Horseshoe last year, Harrah's said it would sell that casino to appease regulators concerned that the company would have too much market concentration in northwest Louisiana.

Neighborhood gambling limited under bill

BATON ROUGE, La. -- New video poker truck stops could not be located within 500 feet of residentially zoned property under legislation approved by the House on Monday.

Rep. Roy Burrell, D-Shreveport, added the restriction to a Senate-passed bill that also eases, in some circumstances, the fuel-sales requirements for some truck stop casinos.

Truck stops licensed before July 1 of this year would not be affected by Burrell's amendment, which was approved by a vote of 82-17.

The bill by Sen. Joel Chaisson, D-Destrehan, also allows truck stop casino operators to get around monthly fuel sales requirements if unforeseen circumstances, such as the unexpected closing of a highway, cause a drop in fuel sales.

Minimum fuel sale requirements were adopted in the 1990s to stop the proliferation of sham truck stops that began popping up after video poker was legalized for truck stops.

The bill was approved by a vote of 64-36. It goes back to the Senate for concurrence in the House amendments.