As a result, much of the gaming business is headed to the west,specifically New Orleans and Lake Charles, LA. The cities did loseriverboat casinos, but managed to keep their gaming system fairlyintact. "Much of the gaming in Louisiana was on the western side,Shreveport and Lake Charles, even before Katrina," says Paul West,a partner with McGlinchey Stafford PLLC's Baton Rouge, LA office,which works with the gaming industry.

The Biloxi-Gulfport region is slowly reopening, but New Orleanshas picked up a good chunk of business from the slow rebuildingprocess. West says the city's two riverboats--PinnacleEntertainment Inc.'s Boomtown Casino New Orleans and Boyd GamingCorp.'s Treasure Chest Casino--are doing well as is Harrah's landcasino, which opened during Mardi Gras.

"The market shrunk dramatically in that area of the country,"West says about the Mississippi gaming stake. But, he adds, it's afact that demand goes elsewhere when there's less of a supply.