The revenue from legal betting pays for a number of state programs and is a primary source of funding for the Support Education in Louisiana Fund. In 2011 approximately $400 million was collected. In 2016 the figure was $906 million.<\/p>\n
But Johns believes the state could collect even more money if resorts were allowed to be more competitive. Updating the laws would allow the riverboat venues to expand and become more modern.<\/p>\n
Threats from Oklahoma\u2019s Native American places are taking away customers from Shreveport facilities. Mississippi\u2019s resorts include golf courses and are tourist destinations, further harming Louisiana\u2019s ability to compete.<\/p>\n
Not much has changed legally since the 15 riverboat facilities and Harrah\u2019s in New Orleans were established more than two decades ago. They are governed by laws that Johns and others believe are archaic. One of the statues requires a working paddle wheel and another mandates a captain must be present even though the boats never move.<\/p>\n
Ronnie Jones, a former state trooper who heads a task force and the regulatory\u00a0Louisiana Gaming Control Board, told the Advocate that staying stagnant will harm the establishments.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a serious industry now, and we have to look at it with an eye toward economic development,\u201d\u00a0he said.<\/p>\n
This is the second time the subject has come up. The first was in May when the legislators and casino executives met at the state\u2019s gaming committee.<\/p>\n
One proponent is Senator Gary Smith (D-District 19) who said after that meeting that something had to be done.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe haven’t looked at a lot of these laws in a very long time,\u201d he said. \u201cIt’s just been kind of status quo and we really do need to step in and modernize a lot of things.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Legislators warn that if Louisiana wants to stay competitive with neighboring state casinos they need to revise their gambling laws, something that hasn\u2019t been done since 1991. Some lawmakers believe it is time that changed. Senator Ronnie Johns (R-District 27) brought up the topic for the second time this year at last Monday\u2019s legislative session. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":61521,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,13,61],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Louisiana Legislators Looking at State\u2019s 26-Year-Old Gambling Laws<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n