Coushatta Casino Resort Sets Opening Date for $150 Million Luxury Hotel in Louisiana
Posted on: March 25, 2026, 07:45h.
Last updated on: March 25, 2026, 07:45h.
- The Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana is finishing its new hotel tower
- The tribe says the hotel includes 100 luxury suites
- The hotel project was engulfed in controversy
The Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana will open its eight-story, 204-room luxury hotel at the Coushatta Casino Resort in Kinder in May.
Located about 35 air miles northeast of Lake Charles, where Golden Nugget, L’Auberge, and Horseshoe operate as commercial riverboats, Coushatta is a tribal casino spanning 100,000 square feet with 2,000 slot machines, 55 table games, a sportsbook, a bingo room, and off-track parimutuel wagering.
The federally recognized tribe says its new hotel tower, which will bring the resort’s total inventory to more than 1,000 guestrooms, will feature 100 opulent suites. Construction on the facility began in March 2024.
This expansion reflects the continued vision and long-term investment in the future of Coushatta Casino Resort. For more than three decades, Coushatta has served as an economic engine for our region. This new hotel tower strengthens our ability to welcome more guests, create new jobs and enhance the overall resort experience for years to come,” said Nate Tanner, general manager of Coushatta Casino Resort.
The Coushatta release on the forthcoming hotel says a May opening date will be announced in the coming weeks. The $150 million investment additionally included refreshing the casino floor. Coushatta Casino Resort celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2025.
Project Linked to Fraud Allegations
The new Coushatta Casino Resort hotel came surrounded by controversy.
The tribe’s chairman, Jonathan Cernek, resigned abruptly in August 2024 amid allegations that he had used tribal casino credit cards for personal purchases totaling almost $112K. The scandal cost Coushatta Casino Resort CEO Todd Stewart his job after the National Indian Gaming Commission suspended his gaming license and ordered that he be put on leave.
The NIGC probed allegations that Stewart had learned of Cernek’s fraud but did not report the credit card misuse in a timely manner. He was also accused of failing to inform Wells Fargo, the tribe’s lender for the $150 million hotel loan, about the possible fraud.
Tanner was later appointed to succeed Stewart.
Cernek nor Stewart were ever criminally charged. Last fall, federal and state authorities closed their investigations without an indictment.
The drama, however, didn’t end there.
In November, the home of David Sickey, who returned to the role as Coushatta chair after Cernek’s exit, was targeted in a shooting. A single bullet traveled through the bedroom window of Sickey’s child at around 11:15 pm on Sunday, Nov. 2. No one was injured in the shooting.
No arrest has been made to date.
Louisiana’s Largest Casino
Along with its 100K-square-foot casino, billed as Louisiana’s largest, Coushatta has eight restaurants, 20,000 square feet of meeting space, an outdoor pool with a lazy river, a concert venue capable of accommodating 4,000 people, a 100-spot RV park, and an 18-hole golf course.
Like Lake Charles casinos in Southwest Louisiana, Coushatta primarily draws visitors from Texas.
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