The first land-based casino in the Shreveport-Bossier area is now open for business. “Live! Casino and Hotel Louisiana held its grand opening Thursday night in Bossier City with hundreds of people on hand. Marketing Vice President Josh Robinson spoke about the importance of the project before the opening. “We have been working around the clock to get everything ready, and we are just excited to open these doors and show the world everything that Live! Casino and Hotel Louisiana has to offer.”
Robinson says this $270 million property provides 750 permanent gaming and hospitality jobs with an annual payroll exceeding $30 million. Owned by the Cordish Companies, it features 40 live action table games, a 47,000 square foot gaming space with more than a thousand slots and electronic table games. The casino also features a DraftKings Sportsbook for betting, along with a 550-room hotel.
The property is located on the eastern bank of the Red River, two miles from downtown Shreveport. The company forecasts their operation will “generate more than $35 million in gaming tax revenues for Bossier City and more than $168 million for the state of Louisiana within its first five years of operation.”
According to the Louisiana Gaming Control Board, total revenue from the five riverboat casinos in Shreveport-Bossier market totaled $45 million in December, a 5% drop from the previous year. For comparison, the Lake Charles market has three casinos but generated $60 million. The disparity reveals an erosion of revenue in recent years blamed, at least partly, on competition in Oklahoma, along with market shifts. The opening of a new casino is expected to have a positive impact on the Shreveport-Bossier market temporarily.
The five riverboats include: Boomtown Bossier, Bally’s Shreveport, Horseshoe Bossier City, Sam’s Town and Margaritaville. The casino board still lists the now-closed Diamond Jacks Casino, which is now the site of the new, renovated home for the Live! Casino and Hotel Louisiana.
Originally, the property was the home of the Isle of Capri Casino which opened in May 1994, with the hotel added in 1999. In 2006 the facility changed ownership and was rebranded as Diamond Jacks before the mandatory closing of all casinos at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Diamond Jacks never reopened. The facility stood empty until the Baltimore-based Cordish Companies announced their purchase of the property in April 2023. Now, after nearly two years, Live! Casino and Hotel has opened its doors.
