Pinnacle reports damage from Ike at Louisiana casino

Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. said Monday that Hurricane Ike damaged its Lake Charles, La., casino.

The storm created a record-high storm surge, which damaged some of the entrance and exit ramps at the L’Auberge du Lac Casino Resort. Pinnacle’s construction team is working with structural engineers and marine experts to inspect and repair the ramps so the company can reopen the casino as quickly as possible, Pinnacle said.

Farther north, the hotel at Pinnacle’s Belterra Casino Resort in Vevay, Ind., lost power Sunday and remains open on generator power.

Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. is a Las Vegas-based company that owns and operates the Lumiere Place and President Casino in downtown St. Louis and the under-construction River City casino in Lemay, which is expected to open at the end of 2009.

Isle of Capri Casinos Inc. said it would reopen its Lake Charles, La., casino at 6 p.m. Monday. „Although the company is still assessing the impact of the storm, we have not identified any significant damage at this time,“ the casino company said in statement.

Creve Coeur-based Isle of Capri Casinos (Nasdaq: ISLE) currently owns and operates riverboat, dockside and land-based casinos at 18 locations in Mississippi, Louisiana, Colorado, Iowa, Missouri and overseas.