Pinnacle Gaming already has a strong presence in the Louisiana gambling and casino riverboat industry. Operating Boomtown Casino in Bossier City (Shreveport), Boomtown New Orleans in the heart of the Harvey suburb, and a Lake Charles riverboat casino (awaiting voter approval), Pinnacle is now seeking to take one of their two newly acquired riverboat casino licenses into Baton Rouge. If Pinnacle is able to do so, they will be the only gambling operator to have four casinos in all four of Louisiana's regulated gambling jurisdictions.

The chances of Pinnacle getting approved by the Louisiana Gaming Control Board (whom they filed an application with last week), seem likely considering Pinnacle already holds a valid casino license that they acquired from Harrah's Entertainment in a deal giving Harrah's the Hurricane Katrina damaged Pinnacle casino property in Biloxi, Mississippi and $25 million for Harrah's two Lake Charles Riverboat casino licenses (both casinos were destroyed by Hurricane Rita). Pinnacle is suggesting a 35 acre site in Baton Rouge, which they have already purchased for $1.1 million to accommodate the new casino.

As tempting as this may all sound, Pinnacle will be running up against some heavy opposition however - Mainly from the likes of Penn National Gaming and Columbia Sussex Corp., who are the only two casino operators currently in business in the city of Baton Rouge. Both companies have already complained about the feasibility of allowing a third casino into the Baton Rouge gambling market, which they are backing with a study they say proves that Baton Rouge's gambling market is only accommodating to two riverboat casinos, considering the city does not attract many out-of-town gamblers.

One counter to this argument is that Baton Rouge's population has drastically increased since Hurricane Katrina swept through and severely damaged New Orleans and the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. As a result, casino gambling revenue in Baton Rouge was up by 26% in 2005, with growth trends continuing to show sharp increases. Although Pinnacle has not shared any details about the proposed casino, most analysts expect it to be the nicest property in Baton Rouge, which the city's residents would vote on in a special election following approval by the Louisiana Gaming Commission.