New Orleans could receive $103M in deal on casino lease payments

By Katie Jane Fernelius

Contributing Writer

(Veritenews.org) – New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno announced on last Tuesday (April 28) that the city is set to receive more than $100 million in advance lease payments from Caesars New Orleans Casino, in a deal designed to provide a vital infusion of cash to its general fund reserves. Moreno called it an “outside the box” move that will shore up the rainy day fund and reassure rating agencies that the city is not a credit risk.

As part of a 30-year-old deal that allowed it to operate the state’s first land-based casino, Caesars (formerly Harrah’s) operates its New Orleans casino on city-owned land under a lease with the city. The current agreement, which runs until 2058, brings in about $16 million a year in rent, plus additional payments for local education initiatives.

The deal announced Tuesday, which is not yet finalized, will go through an asset management firm, which will provide an upfront payment for the downtown casino, totaling approximately nine years and two months of rent. In exchange, Caesars will receive an 8.75 percent discount.

Altogether, the deal will provide approximately $103 million to the city’s general fund balance and give the Moreno administration a reserve of money to tap into should there be an emergency. The city’s general fund balance currently sits at $35 million, well below a $160 million target.

“Instead of taking many, many years to build up our reserve fund, what we are working on right now will fix our fund balance and get us very close to that $160 million mark,” Moreno said Tuesday. “It also does something that’s very critical: it starts to get us on better footing with rating agencies.”

The city’s bond rating was recently downgraded due to its shrinking reserve fund and its “structurally imbalanced operations.” That downgraded rating will increase the city’s borrowing costs at the same time as it is seeking outside money to help plug an estimated $220 million deficit.

Last week, city officials said that the money will not be used for any recurring purposes such as personnel – meaning that cost-saving measures, including furloughs, will remain in place – but only to build up the rainy day fund in order to prove to rating agencies that the city can be a responsible borrower.

“This is now proof positive on one of the largest data points that the ratings agencies are looking at that New Orleans is turning the corner,” said Chief Administrative Officer Joe Giarrusso.

“This is a good solution for the city,” said Louisiana Legislative Auditor Mike Waguespack, who has been monitoring municipal spending as part of an agreement struck last year that allowed the city to take out an emergency $125 million loan and avoid a state-led fiscal takeover.

“It really solves more of a crisis situation with the fund balance,” he continued. “Putting the cash in the bank and reserving it for emergencies or just keeping it on the balance sheet earning interest is the way to go. It’s really going to change the minds of, hopefully, the bond rating agency.”

This article originally published in the May 4, 2026 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.