A dispute over licensing obligations has put an end to the pending sale of the Margaritaville Resort Casino in Louisiana to the Poarch Band of Creek Indians.
According to the news release on Monday morning, the decision to end the acquisition of the Bossier City resort casino by the Alabama tribe was an amicable mutual one.
Shreveport-based KTBS-3 News reports that a dispute between the casino’s operator, Bossier Casino Venture (BCV), and Margaritaville Holdings LLC regarding a requirement that operation of the casino is entirely under the Alabama tribe’s Wind Creek brand and free from any Margaritaville-related licensing obligations. The contingency requirement apparently could not be met putting an end to what court documents indicate was a $335 million sale.
Announced in June 2016, the sale of the 500,000-square foot property, which is part of Jimmy Buffet’s vast hotel and resort brand, would have marked the Shreveport-Bossier market’s first Indian-owned casino and one of the tribe’s first casino ventures beyond its home state of Alabama. However, a dispute emerged between the two companies over licensing fees that BCV reportedly paid Margaritaville Holdings LLC to use the trademarked name.
According to the news agency, hearings regarding the dispute were held in January and February and in March an arbitration panel found that Margaritaville was entitled to damages due to BCV’s failure to pay license fees. In Monday’s news release, BCV stated that it was only obligated to pay Margaritaville two years’ worth of license fees, plus interest, after which it was no longer obligated to make any type of license payments for the remainder of the agreement. BCV has reportedly paid Margaritaville.
The news agency quotes BCV’s CEO, Paul Alanis, as saying, “BCV is pleased to have satisfied in full its financial obligation to Margaritaville and to continue using the Margaritaville brand without further financial obligation for future license fee payments. BCV is committed to continuing to provide a first-class gaming and entertainment experience to its loyal customers under the Margaritaville brand.”
Currently, Louisiana has four federally-approved Indian casinos including the state’s oldest Native American casino, Cypress Bayou Casino, in Charenton, owned and operated by the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana; the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana’s Coushatta Casino Resort in Kinder; Jena Choctaw Pines Casino in Dry Prong, owned and operated by the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians; and in Marksville, the Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe’s Paragon Casino & Resort.
