L'Auberge Casino Hotel Baton Rouge Review for June 2026

Baton Rouge sits on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, roughly 80 miles northwest of New Orleans, and Louisiana is the kind of state where the river is never just a geographical feature. It shapes the food, the culture, the economy, and the mood of every city that sits along it. L'Auberge Casino Hotel Baton Rouge opened in September 2012 on the shore of that river, in the southern part of the city, with a design philosophy that leans fully into Louisiana identity.

The property is owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties and operated by Penn Entertainment under the L'Auberge brand, which Penn runs across two Louisiana properties, this one and L'Auberge Lake Charles. The name means "the inn" in French, and the Southern river lodge aesthetic that runs through the architecture and interior design nods to the plantation house and bayou traditions of the region rather than defaulting to the generic luxury casino hotel style that most comparable properties adopt. Louisiana-style furnishings, artwork reflecting the state's food and music history, and the specific decision to site the hotel tower with Mississippi River views make the property feel rooted in place.

It is not the largest casino in Louisiana or the most famous. But for Baton Rouge, which is a city of nearly 900,000 people in the greater metropolitan area and the seat of state government, L'Auberge is the obvious answer to the question of where to go for a full casino resort experience without driving to New Orleans or Lake Charles.

L'Auberge Casino Hotel sits at 777 L'Auberge Avenue in Baton Rouge, approximately 10 miles south of downtown along the Mississippi River. Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport is around 13 miles away, roughly a 20 to 25-minute drive. New Orleans is approximately 80 miles southeast via Interstate 10, a drive of around an hour and 20 minutes in reasonable conditions.

The property is accessible from the I-10 via local routes, though navigation on the two-lane streets leading to the casino has drawn comment from first-time visitors who find the approach less intuitive than the property's scale might suggest. Self-parking is available on site. Complimentary valet service is available for hotel guests at the main entrance.

The gaming floor covers 74,000 square feet and operates around the clock. Louisiana's commercial gaming regulations allow the full range of casino games, and L'Auberge runs them all, including live craps, roulette, and a poker room. The casino is entirely non-smoking, a policy that extends across the full gaming floor and is one of the property's most frequently noted positives in guest feedback.

A sportsbook operates on the casino floor. A high-limit area is available for players who prefer a separate environment.

Table Games

50 live table games running 24 hours, covering:

• Blackjack
• Craps
• Roulette
• Mini-Baccarat
• Baccarat
• Pai Gow Poker
• Three Card Poker
• Four Card Poker
• Mississippi Stud
• Texas Hold'em Bonus

A dedicated poker room runs cash games and tournaments. The fully non-smoking environment extends to the poker room as well.

Slots

Over 1,500 slots in a range of denominations run across the gaming floor. The machine count is moderate rather than enormous, which suits a property that positions itself as a full resort destination rather than a gaming volume operation. The selection is modern and well-maintained.

Rewards Club

PENN Play is the loyalty programme across all Penn Entertainment properties, earning points on gaming, dining, hotel stays, and entertainment spend. Points are redeemable as PENN Cash applicable to all of those same categories, including a shopping redemption marketplace where PENN Cash converts to double value on product purchases. Sign-up for PENN Play unlocks promotional offers from the point of joining, with escalating benefits across tier levels. The programme operates across all Penn Entertainment and Hollywood Casino properties nationally, giving it cross-property value for guests who visit multiple locations.

Did You Know?

The 12-story hotel tower contains 205 rooms and 30 luxury suites, positioned on the Mississippi River bank with upper-floor views across the water. Rooms are furnished with pillow-top mattresses, flat-screen televisions with built-in mirror TVs in the bathrooms, iPod docking stations, plush robes, hair dryers, and slippers. The Louisiana-style furnishings and artwork that characterise the public spaces carry through into the room design with taupe, brown, and red accents.

The hotel is adults-only at 21 and over for room bookings and pool access. In-room massage services are available through guest services, covering those who prefer spa treatment without leaving the room. The fitness centre is available to hotel guests.

A 13,000-square-foot meeting and events facility handles corporate and private events up to 140 guests in the Chatsworth Meeting Room, with the outdoor Festival Grounds adjacent to the property accommodating up to 2,500 for larger outdoor events.

Where to Eat

Five dining venues cover the range from what will shortly be an Emeril Lagasse steakhouse to a casual sports bar, with the river and Southern Louisiana identity running through the food programme.

The most significant dining development at the property in 2026 is the arrival of Emeril Lagasse's Chop House, which is replacing 18 Steak in the fine dining anchor role. Lagasse, the New Orleans-born celebrity chef who built his reputation across a restaurant group spanning New Orleans, Las Vegas, and beyond, brings a Louisiana culinary identity to the steakhouse format that is more authentic to the state than the 18 Steak concept it replaces. The Chop House has a 2026 opening target, and 18 Steak continues to operate during construction.

Red Lotus handles the Asian dining side of the programme with genuine ambition, the Vietnamese kitchen going further than most casino Asian restaurants tend to. The Bon Temps Buffet's name, which translates from Louisiana French as "good times," is one of the more appropriate buffet names in the casino industry, given the state it operates.

Pool and Spa

The rooftop pool sits atop the hotel tower with views of the Mississippi River and the Baton Rouge cityscape, with six private cabanas, a poolside bar, and full pool service available. The pool is restricted to guests aged 21 and over, consistent with the adults-only hotel policy. It is open seasonally and operates as one of the more scenically positioned rooftop pool environments at any casino hotel in the South, the river views from that elevation giving it a character that poolside at a suburban casino property cannot replicate.

In-room massage services are the primary spa offering, bookable through guest services for guests who prefer that format. A local spa partner, the Massage Emporium, provides full spa experiences for guests who want a more complete treatment programme.

Entertainment

The L'Auberge Event Center seats 1,600 and operates as the primary venue for headliner acts, running a Live Nation-connected calendar that has brought consistently strong touring talent to the Baton Rouge market. The Lawn, an outdoor festival grounds immediately adjacent, extends the capacity to 2,500 for warm-weather outdoor events. The Edge bar serves as the property's intimate live entertainment venue, a social music lounge with Mississippi River views and a programme of local and regional artists alongside the main event centre calendar.

L'Auberge Casino Hotel Baton Rouge earns its position as the premier gaming destination in the Louisiana capital through a combination of the fully non-smoking gaming floor, a Mississippi River setting that gives the property a genuinely Southern character, and a dining programme that is about to get meaningfully stronger with Emeril Lagasse's Chop House opening in the anchor restaurant role.

The property is not enormous. 205 rooms, 74,000 square feet of gaming, and 50 table games put it in the middle tier of Louisiana casino resorts rather than at the scale of L'Auberge Lake Charles or Horseshoe Bossier City. What it does well is create a sense of place that feels specific to Louisiana rather than generic to the casino resort industry, and the Emeril's Chop House announcement suggests Penn Entertainment is investing in that identity rather than allowing the property to coast.