New Orleans riverboat casino owners were given 10 days to reach a settlement with the New Orleans Levee Board. According to the Levee Board attorneys, the owners of the casino boat The Belle of Orleans owes them lease payments worth of almost 1.3 million dollars. The boat is now being repaired in Mobile after hurricane Katrina damage.
A federal judge gave Columbia Sussex, the company that operates The Belle of Orleans, 10 days to reach a settlement with New Orleans Levee Board. Otherwise, they will have to put the boat in a public auction.
Columbia Sussex purchased the boat from Caesars Entertainment for 24 million dollars. The boat had been docked at the Levee Boards in eastern New Orleans. According to the terms of the lease signed between Columbia Sussex and the Levee Boards, Columbia Sussex is obliged to pay the lease regardless to the casino activities.
