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Harrah's Joins the Races

"All one has to do is go south to Lake Charles and see what happened to Harrah's after a slot machine casino opened at Delta Downs in February.

"From February through July, winnings from gamblers at Harrah's two-riverboat complex dropped 9.9 percent compared with the same period in 2001. That's a take of $75.3 million versus $83.6 million before slots joined the company of horses at the Vinton track this past February.

"Louisiana Downs, once a multistate gambling mecca, has been playing a poor second fiddle to the five riverboat casinos, one of them owned by Harrah's, in the Shreveport-Bossier City gambling market. The track is now in line to become the second with a slot casino.

"Harrah's obviously decided that it would be worth $157 million to buy and renovate the track and build the casino to make sure that money diverted from its Shreveport riverboats - as well as its four competitors - falls into Harrah's pockets.

"…Although the deal has to be approved by the Louisiana State Racing Commission and the Louisiana Gaming Control Board, the slot casino probably will be open quicker since Harrah's already has casino licenses in the state. And DEG gets a nice slice of the action: 5 percent ownership of a Harrah's company that will operate Louisiana Downs and Harrah's Shreveport Casino.

"Delta Downs casino already has shown that a new gambling facility might bring more money into a market, but part of the take will come from existing competitors. That fact obviously hasn't been lost on Harrah's.

"…Although the industry insists its Texas feeder markets - Dallas-Fort Worth for northwestern Louisiana and Houston for Lake Charles - have not bloomed fully, gone are the heady days when gambling in Louisiana expanded exponentially every time a new casino opened…"

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