Harrah's New Orleans

Harrah's New Orleans is a casino in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, near the foot of Canal Street a block away from the Mississippi River. It is a 115,000 sq ft (10,700 m2) casino with approximately 2,100 slot machines, over 90 table games and a poker room.[1] The casino is owned by Vici Properties and operated by Caesars Entertainment.

Harrah's New Orleans
Address 228 Poydras Street
New Orleans, Louisiana
70130
Opening dateOctober 30, 1999 (1999-10-30)
ThemeFrench Quarter
No. of rooms450
Total gaming space115,000 sq ft (10,700 m2)
Notable restaurantsThe Besh Steakhouse
Casino typeLand-based
OwnerVici Properties
Operating license holderCaesars Entertainment
Renovated in2005, 2006
Coordinates29°56′59″N 90°3′55″W
Websitecaesars.com/harrahs-new-orleans

There are several places to eat ranging from buffet style to fine dining. Since its opening in 1999 Harrah's has been renting nearby hotel rooms to accommodate its guests; currently, the newly renovated 202-room Wyndham Riverfront Hotel is providing such accommodations. In order to avoid leasing rooms, the casino opened its own 27-story hotel tower with 450 rooms across the street from the casino on September 21, 2006, just days ahead of the New Orleans Saints return to the Louisiana Superdome. It is the only land-based private casino with table games in the state by Louisiana law (there are other casinos in the state with their gambling facilities on floating boats and horse racing racinos with slot machines). It is referred to in state statute as "the official gaming establishment".[2]

The casino shut down in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 but reopened in the midst of Mardi Gras on February 17, 2006.

The location of the casino was most recently previously the site of the Rivergate Convention Center, demolished in 1995. A short tunnel built as part of the canceled Vieux Carré Riverfront Expressway is used for valet parking and for an entrance passing underneath Poydras Street.

History

The casino is the brainchild of Christopher Hemmeter, a hotel developer in the Hawaiian Islands who returned to the mainland in 1991 when he began to develop casino gaming projects including the nearby River City Casino. His biggest project was a proposed $1 billion casino in New Orleans. Billed at the time as "the world's largest casino".[3] The original design resembled Monte Carlo's 1861 casino, intending to evoke the New Orleans 1885 Cotton Exposition and Chicago's 1893 World Columbia Exposition.[3] The developers estimated the casino would attract one million additional visitors to the city and would generate annual revenues of as much as $780 million, estimates that were based in part on the proven success of dockside gaming in the Mississippi Gulf Coast area.[3]

In 1993 a partnership of Hemmeter and Caesars World obtained the lease on the Rivergate property, which by law was the only place the land-based casino could be built in Louisiana, beating out a rival bid by Harrah's Entertainment. In August 1993, however, the State Casino Board awarded the state's sole casino license to Harrah's and not the Hemmeter-Caesar's partnership. The impasse of one company owning the only license and another owning the only lease was resolved when the two entities formed a joint venture under pressure from then-Governor Edwin Edwards.[4] The new entity, known as "Harrah's Jazz", established a temporary casino in the Municipal Auditorium in order to establish a cash flow while the main facility was under construction at the Rivergate. The temporary facility opened in May 1995 and a week later was closed due to a flood. The poor location of the site resulted in the actual gaming take falling 60% below projections at only $13.1 million per month.[4] Equally concerning was that 60% of gamers at the temporary facility were locals and not out-of-town tourists, undercutting the economic benefit backers hoped gambling would provide to the tourist industry.

Harrah's Jazz halted construction on the permanent facility at 3 AM the day before Thanksgiving, 1995 and laid off 1,600 construction workers and 2,500 casino employees, and filed for bankruptcy. Later, the project was taken over by Harrah's, who completed (albeit scaled-back with only the first floor in use to this day) and opened in late October 1999 Harrah's New Orleans Casino on the site of Hemmeter's project.[3]

Due to a new local ordinance affecting bars and casinos located in Orleans Parish, in 2015 Harrah's New Orleans became 100% smoke free inside the building. To appease it's smoking clientele, the casino was allowed to open multiple outdoor "smoking patios" to allow gamblers to play and smoke at the same time.

In July 2020, Eldorado Resorts acquired Caesars Entertainment (the former Harrah's Entertainment), taking over operations of the property.[5] In connection with that acquisition, Vici Properties bought the real estate of Harrah's New Orleans for $790 million and leased it back to Eldorado (newly renamed as Caesars Entertainment).[6][7]

In 2020, it was announced that the casino will be renamed Caesars.[8] As of July 2023, several renovations both inside and outside have been completed. The conversion from Harrah's to Caesers will be done in phases while keeping the casino open. The first phase of interior renovation completed and opened was converting the buffet, closed since the beginning of the coronavirus, into a new, large high limit table games area. Other conversions completed and new features include a sports book area and converting the theater into a new food court featuring 3 celebrity chef restaurants, including a burger restaurant and a pizza restaurant. The conversion to Caesers is expected to be completed in 2024.

See also

References
  1. Shapiro, Dean M. (June 23, 2007). "Two New Additions to Harrah's Fulton Street Mall". New Orleans Online. Archived from the original on June 28, 2007.
  2. "Subpart B. Offenses Affecting General Morality". Louisiana State Legislature. LA.GOV. Retrieved November 3, 2017.
  3. McKinney, Louise (2006). New Orleans: a cultural history. Oxford University Press. pp. 165–166. ISBN 978-0-19-530135-9.
  4. Myerson, Allen R. (June 2, 1996). "A Big Casino Wager That Hasn't Paid Off". The New York Times. Retrieved February 2, 2010.
  5. Ken Ritter (July 20, 2020). "Eldorado finishes $17.3B buyout of Caesars Entertainment". Associated Press. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
  6. "Vici Properties Inc. completes property acquisitions and lease modifications related to the Eldorado-Caesars merger" (Press release). Vici Properties. July 20, 2020 – via BusinessWire.
  7. Form 10-K: Annual Report (Report). Vici Properties. February 20, 2020. p. 56 – via EDGAR.
  8. "Harrah's to become Caesars New Orleans in $325M upgrade; see new renderings | Business News | nola.com". www.nola.com.
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