Rainbow Casino will become Lady Luck next year, owners say
Published 12:12 pm Friday, June 8, 2012
Rainbow Casino will become the fifth Lady Luck-branded casino under the Isle of Capri corporate umbrella by the end of October 2013, the St. Louis-based gaming and entertainment company said Thursday in a quarterly financial report.
Completion of the $5 million list of renovations underway and upgraded amenities will coincide with the end of the second quarter of Isle of Capri’s fiscal year, the report said.
Changing the Warrenton Road casino’s name will bring Otis and Henry’s restaurant and a Lone Wolf bar, both found in Isle’s 15 self-branded and Lady Luck casinos in six states.
Isle purchased Rainbow in 2010 from Bally Technologies for $80 million. A name change to Lady Luck was deemed imminent by company officials at the time. No gaming-related details are listed in the report. Rainbow employs 284 people, according to data supplied to the Mississippi Gaming Commission.
Overall, the company reported a $125 million net loss for a three-month period ending April 29, compared to a $10.9 million profit for the same period in 2011. The company cited a $112.6 million charge from a pending sale of its Biloxi casino and a $16.1 million charge from the sale of its riverboat and gaming license in Lake Charles, La.
Also working against the company’s bottom line for the quarter were a $14.4 million impairment charge against their casino in Lula, in Coahoma County, where the company “is facing increased competitive pressure from competing facilities in Arkansas,” the report said. Also, Isle reported $2 million in debt, including interest, stemming from a judgment in a legal case rooted in Isle’s former property in Vicksburg, sold to Legends Gaming in 2006 and renamed DiamondJacks.
Isle recovered $758,000 from insurance for the 12 months ending April 29, the report showed. Rainbow closed for two weeks in May 2011 when the Mississippi River climbed to 57.1 feet in Vicksburg, which eclipsed the 1927 flood mark.
Isle opened what is now DiamondJacks in 1993 and was Vicksburg’s first casino. Rainbow opened in 1994.