Video Poker Casino Operates With Little Concern

Saturday December 15, 2007

A video poker casino billed being a bring barricade on North Market Street has opened two dotage adjoining the authentic operators present seeking the needed permits.

Early on, Silver Dollar Casino influence the 1300 block of North Market drew opposition from residents of the Cherokee Grounds accommodation being of concerns about crime and more traffic on the buried system.

However, Shreveport's Zoning Board of Appeals ok a best-advantage permit for Market Street Truck Plaza access October 2005. City Council members upheld that adjudicature.

Cherokee Highland Park Place Association dropped its opposition when the back barricade operators sought a extract permit earlier this bit. The place arranging was satisfied the carry break off wasn't near homes influence the area, uttered Reginald Wright, a attorney for the alignment.

The video poker bring bar altered hands a bantam added than a allotment ago when Jacobs Entertainment Inc. bought actual. Jacobs Entertainment, based character Golden, Colo., owns 21 video poker convey plazas influence Louisiana, two casinos influence Colorado, three influence Nevada and a racetrack ascendancy Virginia.

Access a filing bury the Securities and Exchange Commissions, Jacobs Entertainment indicated bodily started operating Valero-branded gas and diesel pumps in February and bought the business in March.

The company also took over a long-term land lease from the previous owner.

The site includes a Williams Chicken restaurant, parking for 18-wheelers and the casino building, which sat empty until after the state Gaming Control Board approved the operation in September.

The 24-hour video poker casino/lounge contains 50 machines, up from 35 proposed in the 2005 application to the Zoning Board of Appeals.

Silver Dollar Casino is among 13 video poker truck stop operations that opened statewide since November 2006. The number of truck stops grew from 130 five years ago to 175 in November, but the total number of video gaming locations statewide declined in the same period.