Widening of gambling proposed

NEW ORLEANS – Discouraged by the city’s prospects for a rapid financial recovery after Hurricane Katrina, Mayor C. Ray Nagin proposed Friday to allow large hotels in its central city district to convert into Las Vegas-style gambling casinos.

Nagin said the move would help jump-start the beleaguered local economy and would generate an estimated $150 million in extra revenues, which the city and the state would split evenly.

Failure to enact the proposal, Nagin argued, would mean the city will “limp” toward recovery for the next three to five years. The mayor’s proposal follows his decision to lay off 3,000 city employees earlier this week.

“It’s time for bold, out-of-the-box thinking,” said Nagin, who admitted he has not always been a gambling advocate. “But we can’t afford to lay back and do the same old thing.”

The mayor’s gambling initiative was one of five wide-ranging proposals he forwarded to Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco. The gambling proposal would require approval from the state legislature.

Blanco, who has campaigned against gambling in the past, was unavailable for comment, according to her press office.

Nagin said he had discussed the casino idea with Blanco, but that she was not “blown away” by it. The mayor acknowledged he faces an uphill political battle with the proposal, even though other forms of gambling such as video machines and riverboat casinos are allowed in New Orleans.