BOARDMAN ATTENDS SAM'S TOWN CASINO OPENING IN TUNICA

To Evelyn Boardman, who attended the opening of Sam's Town casino near Tunica, Miss., Wednesday, it was like being a little girl in a candy store.

"It was marvelous," said Boardman, who was among five Cape Girardeau residents and supporters of casino gambling who attended the "soft opening" of the Boyd Gaming Corp.'s latest facility.

The Cape residents were among the 25 to 30 dignitaries who participated in the opening celebration, after which the Mississippi casino was opened to the public.

Within several hours, Sam's Town was filled with 13,000 people, said Boardman, who works for Boyd.

She runs the Cape Girardeau office for the Las Vegas-based firm. The company plans to put a riverboat casino in Cape.

Boardman said it appears a statewide initiative petition will be circulated to resubmit a measure to Missouri voters that would allow slot machines and other games of chance on the floating casinos. Voters narrowly rejected such a measure in April.

An election could be held in November, and the riverboat casino -- which is now under construction -- should be operating by next spring, she said Thursday.

The gambling development in Cape Girardeau will employ about 800 people.

Even as Sam's Town opened Wednesday, some construction and grounds work was still being done. "There are workers all over the place still finishing it up," said Boardman.

She said Sam's Town was scheduled to close Thursday night and reopen Sunday. Mississippi law requires casinos to shut down after the initial 48 hours of operation so that the state can do its audits.

"It will open back up Sunday and never close again, because it will be open 24 hours a day," she said.

Sam's Town looks like a western theme park, with the exterior facade resembling an Old West town.

"It's huge," said Boardman. "When I got there, I couldn't believe it. I think it would cover from Independence to Broadway -- just the structure -- and maybe more than that. It was just enormous."

At 94,000 square feet, the two-level casino is bigger than two football fields and has 75 table games.

In all, the $100 million-plus casino and related development covers about 400,000 square feet.

Tunica County's first casino could fit inside the huge atrium at Sam's Town, it's so large, Boardman said. The complex features numerous restaurants.

The development also includes a 200-room hotel. Boyd has announced plans to build an additional 300 rooms.

An entertainment complex, now under construction at Sam's Town, won't be completed for another couple of weeks, Boardman said.

The development, which employs about 1,500 people, almost went up overnight. "They built it in five months, working two 10-hour shifts a day," she said.

Sam's Town sits well back from the Mississippi River. "This is stationary. In fact, you can't even see a river. We had to hunt for the water.

"It looks like just an enormous Western theme park," said Boardman. "If you go up and look out the back, you can see the river in the distance. There's like a dredged canal down to each boat."

Mississippi doesn't require its casinos to cruise. The casino itself is built on a stationary barge, but everything else associated with Sam's Town is on land.

"This is out in the middle of the cornfields. It is almost a bizarre setting to see bumper to bumper traffic going through cornfield country on a two-lane highway," said Boardman.