Louisiana's regulator grants DiamondJacks Casino a reopening deadline extension

The Louisiana Gaming Control Board unanimously approved a resolution to grant DiamondJacks Casino and Resort an extension on its reopening date through February 25. DiamondJacks’ parent company, Peninsula Pacific Entertainment (P2E), will appear before the board on February 17 to present their reopening plans. The chairman of the Louisiana Gaming Control Board, Ronnie Johns, has still not seen those plans. 

The Bossier City casino closed its doors back in 2020 due to COVID-19 and its complications. Peninsula Pacific had been campaigning in south Louisiana to open a new casino in Slidell, St. Tammany Parish. The vote, however, failed and the casino was told to open back up by February 11. The casino then asked for an extension on January 12.

“It is my belief that DiamondJacks be given every opportunity to present the Board a realistic plan or reopening with a larger, nicer and overall better facility than what is there now”, Johns stated when the company requested the extension. 

Peninsula Pacific intended to move the boat’s license and pursue a more profitable location in the St. Tammany Parish, where the casino market is less saturated. However, voters in that parish rejected a referendum on allowing casino gaming at the site of a proposed $325 million casino and marina in Slidell.

The Louisiana Gaming Control Board stipulated in its approval of relocating the license that the company will be required to resume gambling operations in Bossier City within 60 days if the referendum failed. Alternatively, Peninsula Pacific could give up the license.