Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe BOSSIER CITY, La., Oct. 23 (UPI) -- Things weren't looking too good for the Isle of Capri along about Labor Day. It's what's called a "first generation" riverboat from the heady days of the early '90s, when Louisiana and Texas tourists poured off of Interstate 20 and jammed its three-deck low-ceilinged casino like chocaholics at Willy Wonka's factory. But business was down this year. Way down. Like 17 percent down. Jack Binion's Horseshoe, the 800-pound gorilla of the market, had opened a brand spanking new hotel tower directly across the interstate and blanketed the highways with billboards from Fort Worth to the Mississippi line. The lush spacious Hollywood Casino had opened five minutes away on the Shreveport side of the Red River. Nearby Louisiana Downs racetrack had been given the go-ahead by state authorities to install slot machines. And Harrah's/Shreveport had opened a new high-rise hotel with high-roller amenities. Advertisement Advertisement None of these places looked like riverboats. That left Isle of Capri and Casino Magic, next-door neighbors, isolated on the south side of the highway like poor cousins in the five-casino market, quaint historic relics from a time before the word "riverboat" became an obscenity. And then came Sept. 11. Within a week, all the big Vegas casinos had announced layoffs. Within two weeks, more than 85,000 people had cancelled Vegas convention reservations, with the number expected to climb. The airlines reduced their flights to Vegas -- which they make very little profit on anyway -- by 30 percent. And suddenly the gambling Mecca of the western world was thinking, "Whither the green felt table?" Not so in little out-of-the-way casinos like the ones in northern Louisiana. The so-called "riverboat states" -- Mississippi, Louisiana, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana -- had a brief decline in business immediately after the attacks, but since then they've returned almost all the way to pre-attack levels. The Isle of Capri doesn't have to worry about how to fill its high-roller suites, because they don't have any high rollers. Nobody flies to the Isle of Capri. Their business is a hundred percent automobile traffic, with about half coming from the local area, 25 percent from East Texas, and the rest scattered among Arkansas, Oklahoma and northeastern Louisiana. Most of the customers stay three or four hours, long enough to grab a seafood dinner at Calypso's Buffet, do a little low-key gambling and, on weekends, take in a local band in the Caribbean Cove Showroom. The casino does have 536 hotel rooms -- 310 in a hotel tower and 226 more five minutes away at a converted Hilton called the Isle of Capri Inn -- but those are mostly for people attending trade shows, family reunions, weddings and the like. Advertisement Wall Street has already passed judgment on the shape of gambling in the near future -- and the Isle of Capri is it. So-called "large-cap" gambling companies -- like MGM Mirage, Park Place Entertainment (which owns Caesars Palace), and Mandalay Bay -- have suffered massive sell-offs and are trading near their historic lows. The "small-cap" companies, mostly based in the Midwest, are holding their own and in some cases even gaining. As it turns out, the question is not "Whither the green felt table?" but "Which green felt table is closest to home?" The Isle of Capri is part of a 14-casino chain concentrated in the riverboat states and known for its cookie-cutter "standardized" marketing. All 14 casinos look more or less alike, with a Caribbean theme and marketing squarely directed at older people who primarily play slot machines and spend less than $500 per visit. If the Harrah's chain is the McDonald's of casinos, then Isle of Capri is the Dairy Queen. General Manager Michael Howard, a Vegas veteran with three grandchildren, does spend money on the occasional B-level headliner. Two nights a month you can see Ronnie Milsap, or Trick Pony, or Ricky Skaggs in the showroom. And the Isle does offer pampering extras like rooms with three TVs (ALL the rooms have three TVs, for some reason) and whirlpools. But that's about as far as it goes. Advertisement "We can't really compete with the Horseshoe and the Hollywood on entertainment," says Marketing Coordinator Rita Powell. "Horseshow owns country music, and Hollywood has headliners like Tony Bennett and Jay Leno. What we do is a lot of Asian shows. We had Vietnamese singers for Thanksgiving. We'll have an Asian show at Christmas. The 'Asian Elvis' played this showroom." Capturing the Asian-immigrant market with dragon dances and Filipino folk art in a state known for its Cajuns, redneck and black population is exactly the kind of marketing the larger casino chains are not in a position to do. Everything about the Isle of Capri is small-scale, cozy and neighborhood-friendly, right down to Eno's Playhouse, an "edutainment" childcare center where single mothers can deposit their rug-rats while they hang out at the Caribbean Stud table. For the last year all the news in the Shreveport/Bossier City area has been about "The Battle of the Jacks" -- Jack Binion and his $260 million Horseshoe vs. Jack Pratt and his $250 million Hollywood. Add to that Harrah's $327 million investment in the market, and you had a competitive gambling boom that was resulting in higher and higher stakes for lower and lower returns. Advertisement The Isle's total investment, on the other hand, is $180 million. And in these strange times, smaller suddenly seems a whole lot better. -- ISLE OF CAPRI Isle of Capri Boulevard (Interstate 20, exit 20A), Bossier City, La. Theme: Generic Caribbean Opened: 1994 Total investment: $180 million Known for: The only breakfast buffet and childcare center in town. Marketing niche: Locals, drive-ins from East Texas. Gambler's Intensity: Low Cocktail speed: Medium Dealers: Pleasant Bosses: Distant Tables: 47 Slots: 1,070 Rooms: 536 (310 on-site, 226 five minutes away at the Isle of Capri Inn) Surrounding area: In an old residential neighborhood, next door to the smaller Casino Magic on a bend of the Red River next to the interstate. Web site: isleofcapricasino.com/Bossier_City/main.html Overall rating: 68. Joe Bob's bankroll: Up $35 after an hour of "Let It Ride"; total to date: -$130 -- Email Joe Bob Briggs, "The Vegas Guy," at [email protected] or visit Joe Bob's Web site at www.joebob-briggs.com. Snail-mail: P.O. Box 2002, Dallas, Texas, 75221.
