Court of Appeals ruled Illegal Casino Contracts

13 January 2005

The contracts were initiated back in 1994 and redistribution of eleven years worth of revenue may consist of large amounts of money from city funds, however, it is too soon to speculate the exact quantities. So far, no one had done any speculations, the amount of money has to be calculated and determined by the trial court to be appealed by the Supreme Court.

Local governing authorities charged a boarding fee of $2.50 per capita, money that should later on be divided among other governmental entities. Bossier City is the governmental entity in charge of collecting the casino revenues and distributing it according to the legislation passed in 1993.

Funds collected from the Horseshoe and Isle of Capri casinos were to be divided:
- 80% to the City of Bossier City
- 15% to the Bossier Parish School Board (for its Bossier Education Excellence Fund)
- 5% to the Johnny Gray Jones Youth Shelter (operated by the Bossier Parish Police Jury).
However, in 1994, the city decided to establish different contracts with the casino, in which funds would be distributed among more than the three entities mentioned before, and those contracts have been ruled as illegal.

In the new contracts, the funds were to be distributed among: Police Jury, the school board, Bossier Parish Sheriff�s Office and Greater Economic Development Foundation. The minimum sum to be distributed was around 2.5 million dollars, but according to the court of appeals, the amounts collected were always larger than that. Revenues for the mentioned entities were consistent, but the amount of money that the city was collecting was increasing.

One of the members of the school board compared the amount that the entities have been collecting with the amounts that were supposed to be distributed. He discovered that the school board was shorted more than 12 million dollars during the past eleven years, and the Youth Shelter had an additional five million dollars.

The Court of Appeals ruled that it was illegal to share gaming revenues with the Sheriff�s Office, the Economic Development Foundation and the Police Jury, revenues that were a total of 15 million dollars for the past 11 years. The trial court will determine if those three entities will have to return the funds they have obtained illegally.

The city currently brings in more than 14 million dollars a year from the casinos and the money is distributed through two different contracts.

OCN Staff

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Court of Appeals ruled Illegal Casino Contracts

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