Holden: Deals made with BR riverboats
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Mayor-President Kip Holden said Thursday he will go before the Metro Council next month with proposed new deals with two Baton Rouge riverboats that would bring more taxes from their gambling operations.
Holden declined to discuss specifics.
“The most I can tell you right now is that we have reached an agreement in principle with both Hollywood Casino and the Belle (of Baton Rouge),” Holden said. “The parties are happy. We have reached an agreement to everybody’s satisfaction.”
Holden said the agreement with the Belle would be subject to approval by a bankruptcy court. The Belle is one of the properties involved in its parent company Tropicana’s bankruptcy filing.
Holden said there will be no downside for employees or vendors doing business with the gambling boats. Hollywood and Belle officials had claimed people would lose their jobs because of the higher payments.
Today, the parish collects a $2.50-per-passenger boarding fee from the boats which officials say yields too few dollars. Hollywood paid $3.5 million last year and the Belle $2.79 million.
Under a law passed last year, the riverboat owners and city-parish officials could negotiate a contract based on net gambling proceeds instead of boarding fees. The rate could not exceed 4.5 percent of the proceeds, but no deal resulted.
During the current legislative session, Holden pushed legislation that would have allowed the city-parish — without concurrence from the riverboats — to impose up to a 6 percent of net gambling proceeds tax.
Hollywood would pay $8.4 million at the rate and the Belle would pay $5.8 million, according to riverboat officials.
The legislation, sponsored by state Sen. Yvonne Dorsey, D-Baton Rouge, won Senate approval and was pending action in a House committee when city-parish officials pulled the plug on it Wednesday as a deal was reached.
Casino executives also were concerned about the impact of the new Pinnacle Entertainment riverboat gambling complex coming into the parish.
Holden’s chief administrative officer, Walter Monsour, said earlier that the city-parish was willing to negotiate so there would be some kind of trigger mechanism to reduce payments if certain things happen financially to the boats.
Holden declined to discuss specifics.
“The most I can tell you right now is that we have reached an agreement in principle with both Hollywood Casino and the Belle (of Baton Rouge),” Holden said. “The parties are happy. We have reached an agreement to everybody’s satisfaction.”
Holden said the agreement with the Belle would be subject to approval by a bankruptcy court. The Belle is one of the properties involved in its parent company Tropicana’s bankruptcy filing.
Holden said there will be no downside for employees or vendors doing business with the gambling boats. Hollywood and Belle officials had claimed people would lose their jobs because of the higher payments.
Today, the parish collects a $2.50-per-passenger boarding fee from the boats which officials say yields too few dollars. Hollywood paid $3.5 million last year and the Belle $2.79 million.
Under a law passed last year, the riverboat owners and city-parish officials could negotiate a contract based on net gambling proceeds instead of boarding fees. The rate could not exceed 4.5 percent of the proceeds, but no deal resulted.
During the current legislative session, Holden pushed legislation that would have allowed the city-parish — without concurrence from the riverboats — to impose up to a 6 percent of net gambling proceeds tax.
Hollywood would pay $8.4 million at the rate and the Belle would pay $5.8 million, according to riverboat officials.
The legislation, sponsored by state Sen. Yvonne Dorsey, D-Baton Rouge, won Senate approval and was pending action in a House committee when city-parish officials pulled the plug on it Wednesday as a deal was reached.
Casino executives also were concerned about the impact of the new Pinnacle Entertainment riverboat gambling complex coming into the parish.
Holden’s chief administrative officer, Walter Monsour, said earlier that the city-parish was willing to negotiate so there would be some kind of trigger mechanism to reduce payments if certain things happen financially to the boats.
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