BUSINESS: STATE'S CASINOS BILLION-DOLLAR INDUSTRY

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Only six years after Missouri issued its first riverboat gambling license, nine casinos currently operating in the state have become a billion-dollar industry, paying nearly $200 million annually in local and state gaming taxes and employing more than 10,300 persons.

In an annual report to the Missouri General Assembly, the five-member gaming commission said that gambling revenue in Missouri reached $977 million in the fiscal year that ended June 30, registering an 8.8 percent increase over the previous year. Annual revenue is expected to top $1 billion before next July 1.

Statistics supplied the General Assembly by the commission indicate the total gaming tax paid to all jurisdictions reached $195,452,212 in fiscal year 2000, with $175,906,991 going to the state treasury and $19,545,221 distributed to county and municipal governments at casino locations.

48 million visit

During the same period, admissions to 10 casinos, now reduced to nine due to a buyout and consolidation, reached 48.2 million in the 12-month period. To operate the games, maintain slot machines, count the winnings, prepare and serve food in a wide assortment of eating establishments and maintain their facilities, the casinos employ more persons than all the residents of three Missouri counties: Know, Mercer and Worth.

These employees operate 528 table games, 15,052 slot machines, all located in the casinos' total 498,000 square feet of gambling space.

Admission fees to the 10 casinos operating in fiscal year 2000 totaled $96,840,542.

$6.5 million in fees

In addition to money received by state and local jurisdictions, the gaming commission collected fees for license applications, renewals and other services provided to gaming companies, including reimbursement for law-enforcement salaries and other expenses attached to the delivery of oversight services. These fees in the last fiscal year reached $6.5 million, helping defray the commission's cost of regulating the industry. In addition, the commission had income of $801,863 from U.S. and agency securities interest payments.

Commission-collected revenue was used to pay for Missouri Highway Patrol vehicle replacements, fees to various state agencies for services provided, and trust accounts operated by the state's Veterans Commission, the Missouri National Guard Trust Fund, the Missouri College Guarantee Fund, and the Early Childhood Development Fund.

Three potential new casino sites -- one each in Boonville, Kimmswick and Lewis County -- are also on the state's gambling agenda. The most advanced license, the Isle of Capri at Boonville, has been designated as a priority item by the commission but will not be issued a license until construction has been completed.

The Cooper County facility on the Missouri River has a projected opening date of November 2001. It will have an estimated employment of 800, with an annual payroll of $22.5 million.