For $16 million, Indiana’s first riverboat casino can be yours
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WISH) — Indiana’s first riverboat casino is up for sale again.
New Orleans Paddlewheels Inc. has announced it is pursuing a sale of the Riverboat Louis Armstrong. That riverboat initially served as Casino Aztar’s gambling riverboat on the Ohio River in Evansville.
The boat, originally named City of Evansville, opened as Indiana’s first riverboat casino in 1995. In 2017, the casino, then operating as Tropicana Evansville, moved to land-based gambling and closed the riverboat.
The riverboat was sold to the New Orleans-based group, where it underwent renovations and opened as the city’s “most luxurious, and most unique concert and events venue on the Mississippi River.”
“In light of the recent changes to the local tourism market and hospitality industry, especially the ones that have resulted in the cancelling of future conventions in New Orleans, New Orleans Paddlewheels, Inc., has decided to pursue the potential sale of the Riverboat Louis Armstong,” company president Walter Reuther Jr. said in a statement. “Although this is somewhat unexpected, the change in circumstances arising out of the significant post-COVID changes has necessitated this path, and the sale of the vessel will permit the company to redeploy assets and personnel in other areas.”
The company is reportedly seeking $16 million for the 3,000-passenger riverboat. A Facebook video released in January 2022 features a tour of the riverboat.