After years of running gambling casinos in the Bahamas, Puerto Rico and other exotic ports of call, Miami-based Carnicon Management Associates is going Cajun.
Carnicon, a joint venture of Carnival Cruise Lines and The Continental Companies, will run one of 15 riverboat gambling casinos about to debut on the Mississippi River in Louisiana.
"We'll set up the casino, set up the controls, that kind of thing," Carnival spokesman Tim Gallagher said of Carnicon's agreement with Louisiana Casino Cruises, a company based in Baton Rouge.
Carroll Cotten, marketing director of Louisiana Casino Cruises, said his company will build and own the $16 million riverboat casino.
The riverboat will be a paddle wheeler with a 30,000-square-foot casino, Cotten said. The boat will make four three-hour trips a day up and down the Mississippi at Baton Rouge.
Louisiana Casino Cruises also has purchased 10 acres of riverside property 300 yards from the Louisiana Capitol. A $16 million terminal will be built at the site, Cotten said.
Carnicon will do more than help set up the riverboat's casino.
Cotten said Louisiana Casino Cruises will pay Carnicon to manage the casino, at a minimum. The company is also negotiating to sell Carnicon a stake of the riverboat gambling operation - possibly a majority stake - before the paddle wheeler hits the water.
"We want them to be involved in equity, at least to a small degree," Cotten said of Carnicon.
Carnicon's expertise in gambling is well established. It manages four gaming operations, including Crystal Palace in Nassau, the Bahamas, and Condado Beach Trio in Puerto Rico. Carnicon hopes to open a casino in Ottawa, Canada, but that project has not received government approval, the company said.
The Louisiana project is Carnicon's first gambling venture in the mainland United States, excluding casinos aboard Carnival Cruise Lines ships that dock in the Port of Miami.
