On Tuesday, the Treasure Chest floating casino in Kenner broke ground on a $100 million development that will bring 47,000 square feet of gambling onto land.
It’s a move that would have been illegal until just a few years ago, when Louisiana legislators eased up on the law mandating that all but one casino in the state be on “riverboats,” even if in only in the broadest sense of that term.
Where did those requirements come from in the first place, and why is Louisiana now allowing more gambling on terra firma? Times-Picayune reporter Tyler Bridges has spent years chronicling how the laws were put in place, the shady dealings and corruption that accompanied the gambling industry and how they were finally eased 30 years later.
