EDITORIAL: Texas gambit worth $1B a year to La.
The Town Talk (excerpt)

Whether you gamble or not, you've got a stake in this question: Will the Great State of Texas become the Great Gambling State of Texas this year?

Texans are wondering about that. So is Pinnacle Entertainment Inc., the Las Vegas-based casino giant that has significant holdings in Louisiana and is about to build two more casinos, one in Lake Charles and one in East Baton Rouge Parish.

Also watching are Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and every state legislator, the money movers who know what the answer to this question is worth to the Bayou State: more than $1 billion a year.

That's what Texas gamblers spent in Louisiana's casinos in 2007. In fact, Louisiana is a magnet for Texas gamblers, drawing more than 40 percent of the $2.5 billion they spend to gamble every year.

Pinnacle's annual report is punctuated with the names of the towns in Texas whose gamblers fly and drive to the company's casinos in Lake Charles, New Orleans and Bossier City. They come from Austin, Beaumont, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. That means a lot to Pinnacle and to Louisiana.

Texas will roll the dice on gambling in 2009. Legislation has been introduced -- again -- and, if passed, it would bring gambling to the Lone Star State in a big way.