At the time that Harrah’s New Orleans was being considered, there was no legal land based casino gambling in Louisiana, in spite of New Orleans’ very rich gambling history. The city was approached by Christopher Hemmeter, who had been a resort builder in Hawaii for many years, as well as gaining some fame as an owner and commissioner of the short lived World Football League in the 1970’s.
Hemmeter was quite adept at dreaming big, and in 1993 he envisioned building a billion dollar casino in New Orleans which was to be fashioned after the one in Monte Carlo and be the world’s biggest casino. A million visitors a year and almost a billion dollars in revenue a year were numbers that were thrown around.
Table Games is excited to offer FREE Blackjack Dealer training classes at Harrah’s New Orleans. Be the first to see new harrahs casino jobs in New Orleans, LA. My email: By creating a job alert or receiving recommended jobs, you agree to our Terms. You can change your consent settings at any time by unsubscribing or as detailed in our terms. Experience the king of all casinos, Harrah’s Casino is a household name. So look no further, this is the motherland of New Orleans and you have just arrived. They have everything you want right between those very four walls from endless gaming to boogie nights. So go ahead take the plunge in to an ultimate gamblers delight, you’ll be glad. Sep 20, 2019 Harrah's New Orleans posted a nearly two percent gross gaming revenue gain in August, and the Louisiana riverboat casinos also fared well last month.
Harrah Casino New Orleans La
The chosen site was the Rivergate property, which was built on a failed effort to build a tunnel in the 1960’s, and the state designed this land as being legal for a casino to be built there. Hemmeter teamed up with Caesar’s and the plan was to build it as soon as they got the license.
Strangely enough though, the license was given to Harrah’s instead, so one company had the lease and another had the casino license, and after pressure from the state governor, the two gambling companies finally teamed up to form a joint venture and the casino was built.
The Harrah’s New Orleans eventually opened up in 1999, and just the casino was built at this time, and guests had to stay at nearby hotels. Eventually a hotel was built across the street, with 450 rooms, plenty big enough to accommodate the guests at the casino.
As it turned out, Harrah’s New Orleans ended up being more popular with the locals than expected, and there are more locals than tourists at this casino actually. So the casino wasn’t anywhere near as big as first imagined, and the amount of tourists that it brings into the city isn’t quite as many as hoped, but this is still a very successful casino.
Since then, the state of Louisiana has issued several other casino licenses and casino gambling now represents a pretty significant part of the state’s economy, but Harrah’s Casino New Orleans was the first and the ground breaker and still plays a prominent role in the casino business in this state.
Harrah’s, which joined forces with Caesar’s to build the Harrah’s New Orleans, ended up acquiring Caesar’s Entertainment just prior to the completion of this casino, although they later changed their name from Harrah’s Entertainment to Caesar’s Entertainment, but retain the Harrah’s brand. They operate a total of 50 casinos are the fourth largest gaming company in the world.
The Accommodations at Harrah’s Casino New Orleans
The Harrah’s New Orleans features a 26 story stately looking hotel, which at a minimum nightly rate of $170, is by far the most expensive of any of the Harrah’s properties. This is downtown New Orleans though, so the prices are going to be higher than at a remote location or in an area that caters primarily to gambling, but this is a fine hotel and is rated four diamond by AAA.
The rooms here are all large and start with a luxury king room, on up. The casino is also partnered with several nearby hotels, the Sheraton New Orleans, The Omni Riverfront Hotel, the New Orleans Marriott, and the Hilton New Orleans Riverside, so there is plenty of selection of great hotels and you don’t have to stay at the casino’s hotel, although it is conveniently located right across the street which is a plus for it.
If you are staying at a resort, then you are often limited to either the resort’s amenities and services or similar ones at resorts nearby, but one of the beauties of having a casino in a major city is that you can enjoy everything the city has to offer, and New Orleans is a happening city indeed, with lots to see and do and lots of places to eat at and be entertained at.
There’s plenty to be enjoyed at Harrah’s itself though, from upscale to casual dining, and there are 12 restaurants that are featured here, with 9 restaurants in house at the hotel and casino and 3 partner restaurants nearby.
Seafood lovers will particularly enjoy the offerings here, and there is a great seafood restaurant on hand, an oyster bar, an upscale steak house, a buffet restaurant, and more, where everyone of all tastes can find some fabulous food.
There are shows and entertainment on hand, at their 3 bars, in addition to the massive selection that New Orleans itself offers, especially those who love music. Historic Fulton St. is just around the corner, with all of its bars, restaurants, entertainment, and shopping, in addition to everything else Downtown New Orleans has to offer.
The Casino at Harrah’s New Orleans
Harrah’s New Orleans offers a large casino, with 115,000 square feet of gaming space. Guests are treated with a bevy of promotions and rewards, and players are well taken care of here, in the usual Harrah’s style.
They start you out with 1,700 slot machines, an impressive amount indeed, and with this many you can bet that there’s lots of variety as well. Penny slot players in particular are going to love this place, as they have 700 one and two cent slots, featuring the latest and greatest slots.
They also give away a half a million dollars a week on average with their progressive slots, and have plenty of video poker machines as well for those who prefer poker.
Table game players will find 100 different gaming tables here, featuring Mini Baccarat, Midi Baccarat, Three Card Poker, Four Card Poker, Let It Ride, Pai Gow Poker, Craps, Blackjack, Roulette, High Card Flush, and Criss Cross Poker.
Their upscale poker room offers 20 tables and offers Texas Holdem, Omaha, and 7 Card Stud. Pit your poker skills against other players instead of just the casino and see how you measure up. This poker room also runs regular tournaments and even hosts a WSOP circuit event. The parent company owns and operates the WSOP now so you know that they know poker.
Overall, if you are going to be in the New Orleans area or would just like to visit, the Harrah’s Casino New Orleans is well worth considering, and if you like playing at a casino, they sure have one for you here.
Related pages:
| Harrah's New Orleans | |
|---|---|
| Location | New Orleans, LA 70130 |
| Address | 8 Canal Street |
| Opening date | October 30, 1999 |
| Theme | French Quarter |
| No. of rooms | 450 |
| Total gaming space | 115,000 sq ft (10,700 m2) |
| Notable restaurants | The Besh Steakhouse |
| Casino type | Land |
| Owner | Caesars Entertainment |
| Renovated in | 2005, 2006 |
| Website | Harrah's New Orleans |
Harrah's New Orleans is a casino located in New Orleans, Louisiana, near the foot of Canal Street a block away from the Mississippi River. It is a 115,000 sq ft (10,700 m2) casino with approximately 2,100 slot machines, over 90 table games and a poker room.[1] There are several places to eat ranging from buffet style to fine dining. Since its opening in 1999 Harrah's has been renting nearby hotel rooms to accommodate its guests; currently, the newly renovated 202-room Wyndham Riverfront Hotel is providing such accommodations. In order to avoid leasing rooms, the casino opened its own 27-story hotel tower with 450 rooms across the street from the casino on September 21, 2006, just days ahead of the New Orleans Saints return to the Louisiana Superdome. It is the only land-based private casino with table games in the state by Louisiana law (there are other casinos in the state with their gambling facilities on floating boats and horse racingracinos with slot machines). It is referred to in state statute as 'the official gaming establishment'.[2]
The casino shut down in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 but reopened in the midst of Mardi Gras on February 17, 2006.
The location of the casino was most recently previously the site of the Rivergate Convention Center, demolished in 1995. A short tunnel built as part of the canceled Vieux Carré Riverfront Expressway is used for valet parking and for an entrance passing underneath Poydras Street.
History[edit]
The casino is the brainchild of Christopher Hemmeter, a hotel developer in the Hawaiian Islands who returned to the mainland in 1991 when he began to develop casino gaming projects including the nearby River City Casino. His biggest project was a proposed $1 billion casino in New Orleans. Billed at the time as 'the world's largest casino'.[3] The original design resembled Monte Carlo's 1861 casino, intending to evoke the New Orleans 1885 Cotton Exposition and Chicago's 1893 World Columbia Exposition.[3] The developers estimated the casino would attract one million additional visitors to the city and would generate annual revenues of as much as $780 million, estimates that were based in part on the proven success of dockside gaming in the Mississippi Gulf Coast area.[3]
In 1993 a partnership of Hemmeter and Caesars World obtained the lease on the Rivergate property, which by law was the only place the land-based casino could be built in Louisiana, beating out a rival bid by Harrah's. In August 1993, however, the State Casino Board awarded the state's sole casino license to Harrah's and not the Hemmeter-Caesar's partnership. The impasse of one company owning the only license and another owning the only lease was resolved when the two entities formed a joint venture under pressure from then-Governor Edwin Edwards.[4] The new entity, known as 'Harrah's Jazz', established a temporary casino in the Municipal Auditorium in order to establish a cash flow while the main facility was under construction at the Rivergate. The temporary facility opened in May 1995 and a week later was closed due to a flood. The poor location of the site resulted in the actual gaming take falling 60% below projections at only $13.1 million per month.[4] Equally concerning was that 60% of gamers at the temporary facility were locals and not out-of-town tourists, undercutting the economic benefit backers hoped gambling would provide to the tourist industry.
Harrah's Jazz halted construction on the permanent facility at 3 AM the day before Thanksgiving, 1995 and laid off 1,600 construction workers and 2,500 casino employees, and filed for bankruptcy. Later, the project was taken over by Harrah's, who completed (albeit scaled-back with only the first floor in use to this day) and opened in late October 1999 Harrah's New Orleans Casino on the site of Hemmeter's project.[3]
See also[edit]
Harrah's Casino New Orleans Parking
References[edit]
- ^Shapiro, Dean M. (23 June 2007). 'Two New Additions to Harrah's Fulton Street Mall'. New Orleans Online. Archived from the original on 29 November 2019.
- ^'Subpart B. Offenses Affecting General Morality'. Louisiana State Legislature. LA.GOV. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
- ^ abcdMcKinney, Louise (2006). New Orleans: a cultural history. Oxford University Press. pp. 165–166. ISBN978-0-19-530135-9.
- ^ abMyerson, Allen R. (2 June 1996). 'A Big Casino Wager That Hasn't Paid Off'. The New York Times. Retrieved 2 February 2010.
External links[edit]
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to Harrah's New Orleans. |
Harrah's Casino New Orleans Blackjack Rules
Harrah's Casino New Orleans Blackjack Games
Coordinates: 29°56′59″N90°3′55″W / 29.94972°N 90.06528°W
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