Caesars New Orleans, formerly Harrah's New Orleans, is a

casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

, United States, near the foot of Canal Street a block away from the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

. It is a casino with approximately 2,100

slot machine A slot machine, fruit machine (British English), poker machine or pokie (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. A slot machine's standard layout features a screen disp ...

s, over 90 table games and a

poker Poker is a family of Card game#Comparing games, comparing card games in which Card player, players betting (poker), wager over which poker hand, hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, with varying rules i ...

room. The casino is owned by

Vici Properties Vici Properties Inc. is an American real estate investment trust (REIT) specializing in casino and entertainment properties, based in New York City. It was formed in 2017 as a spin-off from Caesars Entertainment Corporation as part of its bankr ...

and operated by

Caesars Entertainment Caesars Entertainment, Inc., formerly Eldorado Resorts, Inc., is an American hotel and casino entertainment company founded and based in Reno, Nevada, that operates more than 50 properties. Eldorado Resorts acquired Caesars Entertainment Corpora ...

. Originally opening in 1999 as Harrah's New Orleans, the casino holds the status as being the only land-based casino in the state of Louisiana. It features one of the largest gaming floors in the United States outside of Nevada and several other amenities spread across four city blocks, including eateries from high-profile restaurateurs including Emeril Lagasse and Nobu Matsuhisa, a large sportsbook, a bowling alley, a Manning's sports bar, and two hotel towers. The casino shut down in the wake of

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

in 2005 but reopened in the midst of

Mardi Gras Mardi Gras (, ; also known as Shrove Tuesday) is the final day of Carnival (also known as Shrovetide or Fastelavn); it thus falls on the day before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday. is French for "Fat Tuesday", referring to it being ...

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 The Vieux Carré Riverfront Expressway was a controversial, mostly-elevated, never-built freeway that would have cut through the French Quarter (Vieux Carré) of New Orleans, Louisiana. From 1964 to 1969, it was also designated Interstate 310 ...

is used for

valet parking Valet parking is a parking service offered by some restaurants, stores, and other businesses. In contrast to "self-parking", where customers find a parking space on their own, customers' vehicles are parked for them by a person called a '' va ...

and for an entrance passing underneath

Poydras Street Poydras Street () is a street that serves as the main artery of the New Orleans Central Business District, in New Orleans, Louisiana. The street is named for Julien de Lallande Poydras. Many of the city of New Orleans' and the state of Louisiana ...

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

, billed at the time as "the world's largest casino". 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. 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. 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 Harrah's Entertainment (later named Caesars Entertainment Corporation, previously The Promus Companies) was an American casino and hotel company founded in Reno, Nevada, and based in Paradise, Nevada, that operated over 50 properties and seven go ...

. 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 Edwin Washington Edwards (August 7, 1927 – July 12, 2021) was an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 1965 to 1972 and as the 50th governor of Louisiana for four terms (1972–1980, 1984–1988, and 1992–1996 ...

. 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. 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. As Harrah's, the casino featured extensive New Orleans, Mardi Gras, and pirate theming with ornate Mardi Gras busts and murals along with French Quarter facades adorning much of the casino. Additional amenities included a large nightclub, several bars, a theater, and a steakhouse. Since its opening in 1999 Harrah's had been renting nearby hotel rooms to accommodate its guests, using the nearby 202-room Wyndham Riverfront Hotel and Hilton Riverside to provide 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 The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. Since 1975, the team ...

return to the

Louisiana Superdome Caesars Superdome (originally Louisiana Superdome and formerly Mercedes-Benz Superdome), commonly known as the Superdome, is a domed multi-purpose stadium in the Southern United States, southern United States, located in New Orleans, Louisiana. ...

. 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 its 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. In connection with that acquisition,

bought the real estate of Harrah's New Orleans for $790 million and leased it back to Eldorado (newly renamed as Caesars Entertainment). In 2020, it was announced that the casino would be rebranded as Caesars New Orleans, with the name officially changing in May 2024. Renovations began in late 2021, with the casino's porte-cochere demolished for construction of a second hotel tower. Over the course of 2021 to 2024, phases of the casino were closed and updated to match the Caesars theming and to add new amenities, such as an expanded sportsbook and high-limit room. The conversion to Caesars is expected to be completed by November 1st, 2024 with the opening of the new hotel tower.

References

External links

Caesars New Orleans official websiteThe Rivergate (1968–1995)
{{Authority control Casinos in Louisiana Hotels in New Orleans Casinos completed in 1999 Hotel buildings completed in 1999 Caesars Entertainment Tourist attractions in New Orleans 1999 establishments in Louisiana Casino hotels in Louisiana

History

See also

References

External links