Pinnacle shuts down aging St. Louis casino

The President Casino in downtown St. Louis, which had been scheduled to close on Tuesday, was shuttered five days early by Pinnacle Entertainment due to prolonged flooding along the Mississippi River.

Las Vegas-based Pinnacle announced in the spring it was closing the President and would return the casino’s gaming license to Missouri regulators. About 13 companies have said they are interested in bidding for the available gaming license, which could eventually be transferred to another part of the state.

Pinnacle operates Lumiere Place in downtown St. Louis and opened the River City Casino in March in suburban St. Louis, rendering the President obsolete.

Permanent closure of the casino had been scheduled for 2 a.m. Tuesday. However, the casino’s operations had been closed for a few days because of flooding along the river, which has now been projected to continue into next week.

The shutdown means 200 people are now out of work, and the city of St. Louis will lose about $2 million dollars in tax revenue.