Columbia Sussex‘s mooted flip-flop of its Belle of Baton Rouge and Amelia Belle riverboats turns out not to have been a snap decision in the wake of a pro-Pinnacle Entertainment vote in Baton Rouge. Seems that the company has been laying the groundwork for two months now. Both St. Mary Parish and Louisiana regulators still have to sign off on the switch, which will also require some retrofitting of the Amelia Belle.
Although the Belle of Baton Rouge will be moving to a smaller market, Columbia Sussex promises city fathers in “the Morgan City area that employment will not be changed much with the boat switch.”
Now where have we heard that before? Oh yeah: Evansville, Atlantic City, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Las Vegas …
And although William Yung III‘s $7 million investment in a possible casino site in Covington, Ken., may seem like betting on the Raiders to win the next Super Bowl, when you’ve spent billions to acquire Aztar Corp., seven mil is just walking-around money.
