Gaming industry will probably never give up

When St. Tammany Parish voters resoundingly rejected the efforts in 2021 from a California gaming company that wanted to build a $350 million casino in the Slidell area it seemed pretty clear that the public had spoken very clearly.
Most public officials believed that gaming would never try to return in any way to St. Tammany Parish again.
Think again.
With so much money to be made by any company that operates gambling venues it still looks like that industry refuses to ever say they have been totally beaten.
That thought looks like it is being proven true as there is speculation that a new bill in the Louisiana Legislature may be proposed next spring by a lawmaker who is not opposed to gaming, and most likely receives very handsome contributions from lobbyists supporting the industry.
The newest effort by gambling companies was to use the illegally passed law from 2021 when a state lawmaker got approval for a different form of slot machines called Historical Horse Racing (HHR). Former Gov. John Bel Edwards signed a bill into law even though it was clearly illegal by trying to start a new form of gambling without a public vote.
While the bill claimed the games were not actual slot machines since they were created to pick winners differently, using actual horse races from history, several court rulings have now confirmed the bill was illegal and gaming cannot be forced on a community without a vote of the people.
Even though St. Tammany defeated the casino effort here in 2021 with 63 percent of parish voters turning thumbs down, there might still be a new bill next year that would need another vote of the people for HHR.
Slidell became involved in the HHR controversy when Churchill Downs opened an Off Track Betting (OTB) parlor in Slidell in a business shopping center at the corner of Gause Boulevard and I-10. Even that site should be illegal since the OTB law in the state says they cannot be within one mile of a church, school or residential area. That OTB site is within a mile of all three!
Longtime Slidell attorney Tom Thornhill headed the lawsuit against the HHR machines in Slidell and proved victorious in the most recent ruling by the Louisiana Supreme Court, but even he knows the fight might not be over.
While the potential state bill next year is not confirmed, Thornhill said he won’t be surprised to see it brought up. “Too much money in gaming,” was his reason.
St. Tammany voters have made it abundantly clear we don’t want gambling in our backyard. But it looks like the “no” vote that has occurred here more than once might not be the last time we need to tell the gaming industry: “Go somewhere else.”