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In the New Orleans area, the Kenner City Council this month approved a 25-year lease for the Treasure Chest riverboat casino. The lease gives the owner, Nevada-based Boyd Gaming, the right to locate the casino on land instead of water, according to nola.com<\/i>. The Treasure Chest is on Lake Pontchartrain, northwest of downtown New Orleans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Kenner Mayor Ben Zahn said allowing the Treasure Chest to move ashore will bring more people to the casino and boost tax revenue for the city, nola.com<\/i> <\/i>reported.<\/p>\n
\u201dThat helps capital projects in the city,\u201d he said. \u201cThat helps the police.\u201d<\/p>\n
Louisiana is home to 13 riverboat casinos, one land-based casino in New Orleans, and four racinos.<\/p>\n
When riverboat casinos were first authorized in the early 1990s, the boats were required to journey into open water away from the port. That was changed in 2001 to permit the riverboats to remain docked. In 2018, the law was adjusted to allow riverboats to be scrapped in favor of land-based operations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nFrom the beginning, the Harrah\u2019s casino in downtown New Orleans was allowed to be land-based.<\/p>\n
Deadly Storm<\/h2>\n
The Gulf Coast on Monday continued to recover from Tropical Storm Claudette. The storm pelted Louisiana and Mississippi this weekend before veering eastward into other Southern states.<\/p>\n
At least 13 people were killed in the storm. This includes eight children from an Alabama home for neglected and abused youths. The children were in a van involved in a crash that authorities believe was caused by the storm.<\/strong><\/p>\nBefore sweeping into Alabama and other states, Claudette left as much as 12 inches of rain along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, causing flash floods and displacing many residents from their homes.<\/p>\n