Posted on: December 20, 2024, 02:26h.
Last updated on: December 20, 2024, 02:26h.
Live! Casino & Hotel Louisiana will open in February 2025.
The Cordish Companies announced on Friday that its newest casino resort will open in less than two months in Bossier City, LA. Live! Louisiana, a more than $270 million investment, will turn on its 1,000 slot machines and get cards in the air on its 40 live dealer table games on Feb. 13, 2025.
The grand opening comes the day before Valentine’s. Baltimore-based Cordish is betting big that Louisianans and gamblers from across the country will quickly fall in love with Live! Louisiana.
We couldn’t be more thrilled to announce our grand opening date. We are so ready to go Live! in 2025 and deliver this top-tier gaming and entertainment experience that is unmatched by anything else in the four-state region,” said John Chaszar, executive vice president and general manager of Live! Casino & Hotel Louisiana.
“Live! is truly a one-of-a-kind destination, offering something for everyone — whether you’re a sports fan, a foodie, a gaming enthusiast, or just seeking an unforgettable night out, you’ll find it all under one roof,” Chaszar added.
Resort Details
Cordish acquired the shuttered Diamond Jacks hotel and riverboat in April 2023 for an undisclosed sum. The seller was Foundation Gaming, which had purchased the property from Peninsula Pacific Entertainment a year earlier.
Foundation folded on its plans to invest $200 million into renovating the dilapidated property and sold it to Cordish.
Cordish, which runs three casinos in Maryland and Pennsylvania, is amid an expansion phase. Along with Louisiana, the company is moving forward with a casino resort in Virginia’s Petersburg.
In the Bayou State, Cordish sunk the former Diamond Jacks riverboat in favor of a new brick-and-mortar casino. The 47K-square-foot gaming space, which, along with slots and table games has a high-limit room and a sportsbook, is connected to the 12-story hotel that has 549 guestrooms and suites.
The hotel underwent a complete renovation and upgrade. A resort-style pool and fitness center are among the new resort amenities.
Room rates for Live! Louisiana’s opening weekend start at $399 a night. After taxes and a “hotel services fee” of $15 a night plus tax, a two-night stay comes to $957.27.
Live! Louisiana’s Event Center has 25K square feet of customizable facilities. The destination additionally has 30K square feet of dining and entertainment, plus a 31-site RV park with concrete pads and full hookups.
Restaurants set to open in February include Sports & Social, Live!’s sports bar and restaurant, Luk Foo, an Asian-themed restaurant with culinary dishes inspired by Vietnam, Japan, Korea, and China, and The Prime Rib, a fine dining experience highlighted by chops and seafood.
Bossier City Turnaround?
During the 2024 fiscal year that ran from July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024, the five casinos in the Bossier City/Shreveport market combined to generate gross gaming revenue (GGR) of approximately $517.7 million. That marked a 4.4% decline from the $541.5 million the casinos won in FY2023.
Bossier City and Shreveport casinos have been on a decline for several years.
In FY2022, Bossier/Shreveport GGR totaled $584.5 million. In pre-pandemic 2019, casino win topped $626.4 million. Diamond Jacks was still in operation at the time, though its FY2019 GGR amounted to just $35.1 million.
In the 2016 fiscal year, Bossier/Shreveport casinos won almost $667 million.
