- Treasure Chest Casino will be moving to land via a $100 million expansion project.
- The land-based site will double the gaming area of the existing casino and will stand on the former parking lot of the riverboat.
- Treasure Chest’s move to land is part of a large plan to transform Kenner’s Laketown area into an entertainment mecca.
Officials from the Treasure Chest Casino in Kenner broke ground last Tuesday on a new site that will house a $100 million project that will replace the existing riverboat casino with the same name. Located at the North End of Williams Boulevard at Lake Pontchartrain, the new facility is owned by Boyd Gaming.
$100 Million Site on Land
Treasure Chest Casino begins work at $100M site on land https://t.co/MVEEWX5Di0
— WWL-TV (@WWLTV) October 19, 2022
The $100 million land-based site will be a “state-of-the-art facility” that will double the size of the existing riverboat. It will feature a 47,000-square-foot gambling hall, a 10,000-square-foot convention center, several restaurants and bars, and a retail FanDuel Sportsbook. According to estimates, construction will be completed sometime in 2024. In the meantime, the riverboat casino will continue to be open.
In a statement Boy Gaming President and CEO Keith Smith said:
Since it opened almost three decades ago, Treasure Chest’s riverboat casino has generated millions of dollars for the city and has served as the main source of Kenner’s long-term capital projects. According to Jefferson Parish council member Dominick Impastato, the casino’s expansion is not just a win for economic development but also the city’s overall infrastructure.
Kenner’s Laketown Area as New Entertainment Destination
Could Kenner’s Laketown become a new entertainment mecca? Developers, officials think so | Business News | https://t.co/VXogBTsTUrhttps://t.co/OpmAGPY1Jh pic.twitter.com/IXLiTl8KUZ
— Atlantis Gaming (@AtlantisLakellc) January 23, 2022
The Treasure Casino’s move to land is part of a larger plan to transform Kenner’s Laketown area into a new entertainment district. Last year, Las Vegas-based Atlantis Gaming revealed plans to establish a 40-acre “total destination resort” in Laketown. The $450 proposal was to build shops, condominiums, and a gambling facility.
Although that project is still up in the air, Atlantis Gaming President and CEO Donald Bailey said that the company is currently negotiating with the state in securing a lake bottom lease since most of the project will be built over water on eight specially-constructed concrete barges.
Last August, the Jefferson Parish Council set aside over $2 million to demolish and rebuild the boat launch on Lake Pontchartrain at the end of Williams Boulevard in Kenner. The project will tear down the existing launch and build a wooden pier plus four new ramps made of 12-inch-thick reinforced concrete. The restroom and dredge will also be rehabilitated under the project.
All-New Treasure Chest
🚨 BREAKING NEWS 🚨
There’s An All-New Treasure Chest Coming Soon! pic.twitter.com/oYPXsTRa0z— Treasure Chest (@tchestcasino) January 5, 2022
The existing Treasure Chest Casino has been docked at Lake Pontchartrain in Kenner shortly after opening in 1994. The existing riverboat casino has more than 24,000 square feet of gaming area and features 1,000 slot machines, 45 table games plus nightly entertainment and casual dining options. The riverboat casino is one of 29 gambling properties owned by Boyd Gaming.
At the start of this year, Boyd announced that it would be undertaking an expansion project to move the old riverboat casino to a new land-based location. That location is at the current site of the Treasure Chest Casino’s parking lot. The casino has built a new parking lot that its riverboat customers can use while construction is ongoing.
Treasure Chest is one of the first casinos to take advantage of a law change in 2018 that allowed riverboat casinos to move their gambling businesses to land. Once the transfer is complete, it will be the third riverboat to relocate to land and it won’t be the last. The Isle of Capri in Lake Charles and Hollywood Casino in Baton Rouge is also set to move their operations to land.
