STRICTLY BUSINESS: WHY DO THEY DO THAT?

Every wonder why they do that?

Beginning this week, this column will answer some of those little "Whys" about the business world.

If you have a "why" you'd like answered, let us know. We'll try and explain why they do that...

Paper or plastic? Hardly a grocery shopper goes through the checkout lane without being asked to make that choice.

Why?

Benzi Distribution USA, the largest provider of paper and plastic bags, provides one answer.

Paper bags are more expensive. They cost as much as 6 cents each, while plastic bags are about 2 cents.

Plastic bags are also easier to ship and store. Benzi explains that a 48-foot trailer can haul 300,000 paper bags, but the same trailer can handle 2.8 million plastic bags.

"We do it because a lot of people recycle and prefer the plastic," said Dennis Marchi of Schnucks Foods and Drugs in Cape Girardeau. "We give them a choice."

The cost is another factor, said Marchi. The cost of paper is up dramatically. Plastic is a good alternative.

What's next for

Missouri Gambling?

What's next for Missouri riverboat gambling: No betting limits? No specific times for boarding or leaving?

More boat sites?

The two former issues are likely to appear before the Missouri Legislature during the 1997 session.

The Missouri Gaming Commission has made no decision on considerations for new sites, said Harold Bailey, a spokesman for the commission.

Betting limits were discussed during last week's Missouri Gaming Commission meeting. Some concerns were expressed by analysts who follow stock and debt offerings of the casino industry.

A number of the analysts told the commission that Missouri boats could average a 10 percent hike in revenue with the elimination of the $500 loss limit per gambler per two-hour session.

"Pretend" cruises

The Missouri Legislature will be asked during its 1996 session to eliminate the loss limits and the "pretend" cruise restrictions that allow gamblers to enter a gambling boat every two hours.

Riverboat gambling of today is already quite different from gambling issues approved by voters in November of 1992.

Cruising riverboat casinos were sold as a tourist attraction that would raise millions of dollars for education. Gambling casinos have turned a ton of money into state coffers, but somewhere along the way, the illusion of stately riverboats traveling the Mississippi River for gamblers and non-gamblers alike has been shattered.

Every riverboat operation has been granted dockside operations, which means their floating casinos don't have to cruise. And some new casino riverboats won't even be equipped with motors.

The $500 limit per gambler per two-hour cruise is still intact, but probably won't be this time next year.

Just plain "gambling"

Perhaps we should quit calling it RIVERBOAT gambling.

Of course, safety is the reason given for dockside approvals.

But Illinois has managed to stick to its guns in mandating riverboats that cruise the river. There are no loss limits, however, in Illinois.

Meanwhile, financial experts have advised the commission to wait before licensing additional projects. Two more giant developments which have already been approved are looking to open -- Station Casino Inc., this month, in the Kansas City area, and a joint, four-boat, operation by Harrah's\Players International to open at Maryland Heights in the St. Louis area in March of 1997.

Tunica County growing

By the end of 1997, Tunica County, Miss., which boasts a population of less than 10,000 (8,160, according to the 1990 census), could be in competition with nearby downtown Memphis, Tenn., for a share of convention business.

Check some statistics:

Memphis, a city of more than a million population, located on the Mississippi River, features more than 130,000 square feet of meeting space, and 2,100 rooms in the downtown area. Those totals are expected to increase to more than 200,000 square feet by the summer of 1999.

Home to 10 casinos

Meanwhile, Tunica County, home to 10 Las Vegas-style gambling casinos, is expected to have 5,800 hotel rooms and 204,000 square feet of space for meetings, banquets and conventions in place by late 1997.

The casino area, located about 25 miles south of Memphis can already offer several hundred hotel rooms and ample meeting space during the week.

The Cotton States Fashion Exhibitors Market Show opted for the Tunica County scene recently, holdings its convention in the new convention center at Sam's Town Casino and Hotel.

The trade show, which has been held at downtown Memphis' Cook Convention Center since 1974, was held last week at Sam's Town, which has 30,260 square feet of convention and banquet space, and 700 hotel rooms. Another 160 rooms will open at Sam's Town this month.

A growing competition

The show's move south is another sign of the growing competition between Memphis and Tunica...for employees, for entertainment dollars and for conventions.

Memphis, like many areas throughout the nation, needs workers, with unemployment ranging between 3.5 and 4 percent. The Memphis five-county metropolitan area had an increase of 7,400 retail jobs during the fourth quarter, to more than 103,000 jobs.

Labor was already "short in supply," due to the development of the casino area in Tunica County, where 10 casinos have needs for more than 15,000 jobs, ranging from casino dealers to hotel/motel and restaurant workers.

Cotton State officials said the downtown Memphis convention center did not let them down. Cotton State just wanted something different, its executive director said. "The move to Tunica created enthusiasm and provided something different."

The show featured 100 exhibitors, representing clothing manufacturers showing their latest fashions to store buyers.

Motel/hotel business growing

The Mid South Science Fiction Convention, which attracts about 500 people each year, will hold its 1997 convention at Sam's Town.

Convention organizers for both groups say they'll be saving money by switching to Tunica. If the group fills a certain number of hotel rooms, there will be no charge for using the exhibit space.

The Tunica motel/hotel business has grown in leaps and bounds since the first casino was opened there in 1992. Four years ago, rooms couldn't be found, even through the week.

Now, more than 3,000 rooms are available within walking distance of casinos:

-- Sam's Town has 705 rooms, with another 160 to open this month.

-- Hollywood recently completed a hotel edition, and now has about 500 rooms.

-- Fitzgeralds opened a 400-room hotel during the summer of 1996.

-- Grand Casino has more than 300 rooms with more to come.

-- Horseshoe Casino is adding to its casino and 200-room motel, with a 300-suite hotel tower.

-- Harrah's, which has two locations in the Tunica area, recently completed a 300-room hotel.

-- Bally's Casino offers a 150-room motel.

-- Only two casinos -- Circus Circus, Sheraton -- do not offer hotels. A number of independent companies have also established hotels in the area -- Holiday Inn Express, Hampton Inn, Key West Inn, King's Quarters, Casino Inn, Treasure Inn, Delta Plantation Inn, Tunica Level Inc., and Cottage Inn.

B. Ray Owen is business editor for the Southeast Missourian.