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Pinnacle Riverboat License to Face Gaming Control Board Tuesday

A board meeting will start at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, August 15, at the Capitol in Baton Rouge. Approval is to be asked from the State Gaming Control Board by L'Auberge du Lac's this week for the purchase of Harrah's closed-down site that is along Interstate 10 at the board meeting.

The two state gaming licenses of Harrah's will also be used by Pinnacle for a riverboat at the new site at L'Auberge du Lac. The second license will be put to use in Baton Rouge or maybe in New Orleans on the west bank of the Mississippi River.

Harrah's Entertainment wanted to sell the hurricane-wrecked casino to Pinnacle Entertainment for the price of $70 million. The members of the board will vote on the purchase and the agreement on the relocation of the boat as well as the two gaming licenses.

Pinnacle President Wade Hundley said they are set to propose a $350 million casino-resort next to L'Auberge that will be called Sugarcane Bay, for a bigger destination resort.

Hundley said, "Doing so will allow us to draw from a population base even far beyond what we are able to do with L'Auberge itself."

The proposed casino Hundley said would generate 2,000 jobs and more and more hotel rooms.

Hudley added, "In terms of total investment, will rival the biggest casinos in Biloxi - but in the terms of land area, amenities and all of the things offered at the resort, it will be unparalleled on the entire Gulf coast."