Lights Go Out at a Shreveport Casino

If you ever venture into any of the local casinos, you know it's loud. You hear slot machines ringing and dinging, gamblers hollering when they hit a big bet and lots of vibrant activity.

That changed for just a few moments at the El Dorado Casino in Shreveport on Tuesday night. I was there to play in the weekly blackjack tournament when things went dark.  What I noticed immediately was the silence. It was so odd. Then I heard what sounded like chip covers going over chips at the gambling tables. All the slot machins went dark and then you could hear those gamblers griping a little bit about the money they had just played in the machines.

It took me a minute to pull out my phone and video things as the machines were being turned back on. It took less than a minute for the backup generator to kick in and get the juice back on. It was just odd watching a slot machine reboot.

Swepco did report power outages Tuesday night during a storm that rolled through. During the height of the storm, about 7,000 homes and businesses in Shreveport were in the dark.