The Shreveport-Bossier gambling market may never be "the next Vegas" as was once thought possible 30 years ago, but Louisiana's top gaming regulator believes the revival of the shuttered former Diamond Jacks Casino property can provide a spark to reverse a nearly two-decade decline.
Executives for The Cordish Companies, the new owner of Diamond Jacks, have promised to deliver a transformative project that will vault the property into a destination gaming resort after years of musical chairs ownership.
"We intend for it to be a game-changing project for the Bossier City market," Cordish Gaming CEO Rob Norton said in a previous interview with USA Today Network. Diamond Jacks has been closed since 2020.
Cordish officials have planned a groundbreaking Wednesday to celebrate their $270 million project at the Bossier City property they will reflag with the company's Live! Casino brand.
"I honestly think this development will grow the entire Shreveport-Bossier market," Louisiana Gaming Commission Chairman Ronnie Johns said. "That's been proven in the Lake Charles market. When the new Horseshoe opened there it expanded the market rather than cannibalize it."
Lake Charles is now the nation's No. 14 gambling market with Houston as its feeder, according to the American Gaming Association, while Shreveport ranks No. 20. No other Louisiana gambling market - Baton Rouge or New Orleans - ranks in the top 20.
Like Lake Charles, the Shreveport-Bossier market relied on a steady stream of Texas customers to fuel its boom in the 1990s and early 2000s, a parade of Dallas-Fort Worth gamblers coming in on Interstate 20.
Source: Shreveport Times
