Boyd Gaming-owned Treasure Chest Casino in Kenner is gearing up to move on land. The $100 million project to relocate the riverboat property was started earlier this year, and is expected to finish in spring 2024, casino spokesperson Rodney Miller told Axios. The new property on land will be almost twice its current size.
The original casino opened in 1994 on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain and has 25,000 square feet of gaming space. The land-based casino, one of five being built on land after a 2018 change in state law, will have 47,000 square feet. The new property will also house four new dining areas, a convention and meeting space, and a FanDuel-branded sportsbook.
Almost 10,000 square feet of the space will be used as a flexible space for conventions, meetings, or live entertainment. The builders in May held a topping-off ceremony to mark the placement of the final steel beam. They are currently working to enclose and furnish it.
The existing Treasure Chest will remain open while the land-based casino is under construction. “We’re just excited to be on land,” Miller told NOLA last month. “We’re happy to be in Kenner, to be where we are. We’re a neighborhood casino.” The new Treasure Chest is being built on part of the current casino’s expansive parking lot, on the dry side of the lake levee.
Apart from the Treasure Chest Casino, four other casinos in Louisiana are moving or have already moved on land. These include the Horseshoe in Westlake, which moved on land in December, and Hollywood in Baton Rouge, which is set to go ashore this fall. The other casinos that are set to relocate are Belle in Baton Rouge and Diamond Jacks in Bossier City.
