Gaming Prospects Improve Along Gulf Coast

In Louisiana, the main news involved the property swap between Las Vegas entertainment giants Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. and Harrah's Entertainment Inc. While Pinnacle left its Mississippi properties to Harrah's, Harrah's turned over its Louisiana reins to Pinnacle.

"The whole concept of the one-story riverboat also took off. When the hurricanes came through and Harrah's made the decision to leave that market, that's when Pinnacle was able to make the concept work," Paul West, co-head of the gaming section with McGlinchey Stafford LLC in Baton Rouge, tells GlobeSt.com.

Pinnacle last year announced plans to bring the riverboat concept to Baton Rouge plus its properties in New Orleans and Lake Charles. "You'll have three of these one-story casino/gaming spaces where you won't be able to tell when you're leaving a hotel lobby and walking onto a barge," West says. "No one else has anything like that."

Meanwhile in Mississippi, the "tire kicking" of properties in early 2006 gave way to rebuilding and hardy activity later in the year. "The market was trying to evaluate what was going on in terms of new product coming on line with temporary casinos," says Tommy Shepherd, a shareholder and gaming expert with the law firm of Watkins, Ludlam, Winter & Stennis in Jackson, MS.

On a more positive note, developers felt comfortable announcing proposed projects along the Mississippi coastline and the river counties. "I don't have any illusions that every announced project will get built," Shepherd tells GlobeSt.com. "The key is can they get it financed? I think this year you'll see people trying to put together financing packages for coast properties."

Shepherd and West agree that 2006 also saw hurricane-ravaged areas rebounding nicely from a year ago. "Pinnacle, Boyds and Harrahs are all doing very well. The land casinos are back to pre-Katrina numbers," West says.

Along Mississippi's Gulf Coast, more good news abounds, Shepherd adds. "More capacity is coming on line and is being absorbed fairly well," he says. "We're seeing revenues now that are higher than they were pre-Katrina."