Baton Rouge’s only truckstop casino has been shut down because it did not sell any fuel in March, state gambling regulators say.
Video poker machines at Mr. Lucky’s were disabled on orders of the Louisiana Gaming Control Board, according to Captain Don Moreau, head of state police gambling enforcement.
“The company is not selling any fuel and, in fact, the pumps had been turned off,” Moreau said. “If they’re not selling any fuel, they aren’t a truckstop.”
Crain said if Mr. Lucky’s is able to resume fuel sales, the suspension could be lifted and operations could resume.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Lucky’s said the truckstop sold no fuel in March because it had equipment problems. The truckstop is replacing its fuel pumps, according to Melinda Fayard, a representative of truckstop owner John Mangano.
Because Mr. Lucky’s video poker machine distributor, Louisiana Route Operators Inc., is in bankruptcy court, Mangano told the bankruptcy trustee about his plans to replace the fuel tanks in early March, Fayard said. And Mangano did not think there was a problem because monthly average fuel sales are supposed to be considered on a quarterly basis, she said.
But Mangano should have notified both bankruptcy court and state authorities when he decided to replace the fuel pumps, said Assistant Attorney General Jenifer Schaye, legal counsel to the gambling control board.
—Associated Press