Pinnacle wants extension on Baton Rouge project

Pinnacle Entertainment wants to start building a $250 million casino in Baton Rouge, La., after March 31. State gaming regulators want a little more information in regards to the length of the delay.

The Louisiana Gaming Control Board gave Las Vegas-based Pinnacle until Nov. 5 to give authorities more definitive information on the proposed project on 576 acres that might eventually house a golf course, park, equestrian center, retail and office space and residential housing, along with a 100-room land-based hotel and riverboat casino.

Pinnacle Entertainment Vice President Jack Godfrey said the company remains committed to the project. Company executives said the struggling credit markets are causing much of he delays. 

“Pinnacle is the only company that’s developing anything in the gaming space in Louisiana right now,” Godfrey said. Pinnacle is moving forward with a $407 million hotel-casino in Lake Charles, adjacent to the company’s L’Auberge du Lac resort.

Gaming regulators will consider Pinnacle’s request for the extension to March 31 at a meeting next month.