Harrah’s New Orleans has partnered with the New Orleans Saints (NFL) and New Orleans Pelicans (NBA) ahead of one Louisiana lawmakers’s 2019 planned efforts to revive a failed measure that would allow sports betting in the state. (Image via Caesars Entertainment press release)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nFor the Saints, Harrah\u2019s will be called \u201can official casino partner\u201d while the Pelicans will refer to the company as \u201ca proud casino partner.\u201d<\/p>\n
The agreement is a multi-year deal that begins next year and allows Harrah\u2019s to develop in-game features during Saints games. The deal will also permit a \u201cSaints branded area on property\u201d that will be \u201cdesignated as an official post-game destination.\u201d<\/p>\n
If the deal does come with a designated in-game area, it won\u2019t be the first of its kind for Caesars Entertainment, which owns Harrah\u2019s New Orleans.<\/p>\n
The company already has a deal in place with the NHL\u2019s New Jersey Devils to build \u201cThe Caesars Club\u201d \u2013 a 5,000 square foot restaurant \u2013 inside the Prudential Center where the Devils play home games.<\/p>\n
If At First You Don’t Succeed…<\/h2>\n
After the United States Supreme Court struck down a federal ban on sports gambling in May, several states, including Louisiana, moved to enact some sort of state legislation to allow for sports betting.<\/p>\n
Senate Bill 266, proposed by State Senator Danny Martiny, never made it to the ballot, dying in a 6-3 committee vote. That hasn\u2019t discouraged Martiny from trying again during next year\u2019s legislative session, which is scheduled to begin on April 8.<\/p>\n
According to a report from Watchdog.org<\/em>, Martiny thinks that if the proposal makes it to the people, voters will approve sports betting and it could be operative in the state by 2020.<\/p>\n\u201cThe mindset of the average citizen now is, \u2018I don\u2019t gamble, I don\u2019t care for sports betting, but if somebody else wants to do it, and it reduces my tax liability, I\u2019m all for it,\u2019\u201d he said, according to the report.<\/p>\n