The vote over whether to build a $325 million dollar casino in St. Tammany Parish, the only thing on the local ballot on Saturday, ended with voters taking a pass on the proposed casino and resort complex.
More than 60% of voters rejected the plan to allow Peninsula Pacific Entertainment to build Camellia Bay on a 120-acre tract of vacant lakefront land near the Interstate 10 twin spans.
Peninsula Pacific Entertainment, also known as P2E, bought the land for about $14 million in February.
About 18,000 people in St. Tammany early voted, and when those numbers showed up on the Secretary of State’s website, along with the first precinct of results, the No vote was leading with a slightly better than 60-40 margin. The numbers stayed that way as the rest of the results came in.
P2E, the developer for the proposed casino, spent millions according to campaign finance reports it must file for its political action committee, Northshore Wins. It’s unclear exactly how much anti-casino groups have spent.
Approval of the Dec. 11 ballot measure would have undone a 1996 vote in St. Tammany that banned casinos in the parish.
The ballot referendum featured celebrities like former Saints quarterback Drew Brees and chef John Folse on the side of the developers against local law enforcement like St. Tammany Sheriff Randy Smith and Slidell Police Chief Randy Fandal, who turned on the potential project saying they were concerned about crime.
