The Crooked Smile of Leadership: Part 5

An investigation into the political contributions of Ouachita Parish Police Jury President Shane Smiley has uncovered a pattern of regulatory decisions that appear to benefit a gaming operator who received political support from Smiley’s own business entity, Lexi & Co. while a competing operator lost his license and was subsequently blocked from re-entering the market.

The story begins not with gaming, but with a routine search of Louisiana campaign finance records.

A search of Louisiana Ethics Administration campaign finance records for contributions made by Lexi and Co LLC, a limited liability company registered to Shane Smiley’s personal address in Monroe, revealed four political contributions spanning more than a decade. The largest single contribution was $1,000, made on November 20, 2022, to the campaign of Harvey E. Ned White III, who was running for Louisiana State Senate District 33.

Lexi and Co LLC is registered solely to Erin Shane Smiley as Manager and Member. It is the same address where Tribe Kayak LLC, another Smiley business entity, is also registered.

The $1,000 contribution to White stood out. It was four times larger than any other contribution Lexi and Co had made on record. That disparity prompted a closer look at who Ned White is and what business interests he holds in Ouachita Parish.

Ned White is the owner of Whiteco Investment and Management Company LLC, which operated electronic video bingo locations in the unincorporated areas of Ouachita Parish.

Electronic video bingo operations in unincorporated Ouachita Parish are regulated directly by the Ouachita Parish Police Jury. The OPPJ has authority to license, renew, suspend, and revoke gaming permits under parish ordinance. Shane Smiley, as President of the Police Jury, presides over all of those regulatory decisions.

On November 4, 2024, the Ouachita Parish Police Jury voted unanimously to suspend the electronic video bingo license of Good Times Video Bingo, operated by an individual this publication is identifying only as JG pending his opportunity to respond for the record. The suspension was based on failure to remit taxes and fees required under parish ordinance. JG disputed the basis for the suspension at the time, arguing that the payments in question were prohibited by state law. The Jury proceeded with the suspension regardless.

Two weeks later, on November 18, 2024, an organization called the Gulf South Hemp Association applied for its own electronic video bingo permits. The Police Jury’s Assistant District Attorney presented evidence establishing a direct connection between Gulf South Hemp Association and the suspended operation through JG. The Jury voted to deny the bingo permits while issuing a general occupational license, effectively blocking any attempt to continue the gaming operation under a new name.

With JG being shut down and its re-entry blocked, Whiteco Investment and Management Company LLC’s locations remained as what appears to be the dominant electronic video bingo operation in unincorporated Ouachita Parish at the time.

On January 20, 2026, shortly after the revocation of JG’s license, the Ouachita Parish Police Jury voted unanimously six to zero to adopt Ordinance No. 9539, amending the regulatory framework governing charitable gaming in the parish.

The change was significant.

Under the previous framework established by Ordinance No. 9339 in June 2020, the parish collected a fee equal to 20% of the total net win from each electronic video bingo machine… this was the fee that JG disputed as going against state law in it’s implementation.

Under the new Ordinance No. 9539, the parish’s 20% fee is now calculated only after the 45% charitable distribution has already been deducted from the net win.

In practical terms, this means the effective fee burden on gaming operators was drastically reduced.

Using a simple example: on $10,000 in net win, operators previously paid $2,000 to the parish. Under the new structure, they pay $1,100. The difference goes back to the operator.

Shane Smiley presided over every vote in this sequence. His LLC had contributed $1,000 to Ned White’s campaign two years before the regulatory change took effect. The public record contains no disclosure by Smiley of his financial relationship with White, and no recusal from any gaming related vote.

Louisiana Revised Statute 42:1112 prohibits a public servant from participating in a transaction in which he has a personal financial interest or a relationship with a person who has a financial interest in the outcome. La. R.S. 42:1120 requires recusal from matters in which a conflict of interest exists.

A $1,000 campaign contribution from a public official’s business entity to a regulated operator, followed by regulatory changes that financially benefit that operator, raises questions this publication believes the public has a right to examine.

What Remains Unanswered

The charitable organizations designated to receive the 45% revenue share from White’s three bingo locations are not disclosed in publicly available OPPJ meeting summaries. While the license applications filed under R.S. 4:708 require this information, it does not appear in published records in my search. This publication has submitted a public records request to the OPPJ to clarify questions regarding this series but they have yet to be received.

In the next article, I will explain the property obtained by Lexi & Co in Ouachita Parish and the questions surrounding it.

This investigation remains ongoing.