Artist rendering of proposed casino near Slidell. Courtesy of P2E.
The St. Tammany Parish Council voted 8-6 in favor of allowing a parish-wide vote on November 13th on whether or not a casino should be allowed on the waterfront just outside of Slidell.
Councilman Jake Airey said he voted no because the Legislature only approved a vote allowing gaming at the site of the proposed casino and not parish-wide.
“What should have happened is that the whole parish should have been changed from a yes parish to a no parish and then we would have also voted on whether to put the casino in there,” said Airey.
P2E is seeking to move a casino license from Bossier City to the Lake Ponchartrain waterfront just outside Slidell. P2E would invest 325 million into the facility should voters approve it.
Airey said now you have a situation where residents in west St. Tammany are voting on gaming in east St. Tammany, whereas the original agreement would’ve impacted everyone in the parish.
“We’re opening up the whole parish so that everyone has the same skin in the game that you do because maybe the next time it’s in their back yard and not yours,” said Airey.
Airey said the Legislature’s decision to not allow a parish-wide vote on gambling legalization, and instead, limit it to just allowing one casino in Slidell is a bit frustrating.
“A lot of us in the eastern part of the parish just thought that did not strike us as what we thought was going to happen,” said Airey.
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