BOAT GAMBLING PLAN SINKING; CAIRO TURNS TO ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE FOR ECONOMIC BOOST

CAIRO, Ill. -- When two groups filed riverboat gambling applications with the Illinois Gaming Board last week, Cairo's chances of securing a floating casino operations dropped to a new low.

Southern Illinois Riverboat-Casino Cruises, Inc., and Players Club International was one of two groups which filed riverboat gambling applications two days before Wednesday's deadline, seeking Metropolis as its home port.

"We're out of time for filing an application," said James Wilson, who heads up the Cairo Chamber of Commerce committee which has been working to get riverboat gambling here. "But, we still have one recourse the Illinois State Legislature."

"We're going to request legislation that will guarantee Cairo a riverboat gambling operation," he said. "They (legislature) did it for East St. Louis."

The Illinois Legislature approved a measure in July of this year that guarantees a license for East St. Louis because of that city's economic problems.

"Cairo's economic needs are just as great as those of East St. Louis," said Wilson. "We put all our chips on Players Club International, which became a partner with Marvin Ornstein and his wife, Ronnie, in seeking a license at Cairo."

Player's Club pulled out recently, and started looking at possibilities at Metropolis, Ill., a city of 7,100 residents, located across the Ohio River from Paducah, Ky., which has a population of about 30,000, with an interstate (I-24) access from Metropolis.

Ornstein, a former investment banker from Philadelphia, had applied for a riverboat gambling operation at Cairo, but withdrew his application a week before the Illinois Gaming Board met to rule on applications for 1991.

"He (Ornstein) did have time to develop an agreement with another developer before the Jan. 2 deadline," said Wilson.

Also filing last week was Des Plains River Entertainment Corp., south of Joliet, in northern Illinois; earlier this year, applications were filed from Galena, Alton and Rock Island, Ill.

The Southern Illinois applications were submitted in two boxes, weighing a total of 180 pounds.

The board is authorized to grant five licenses by the first of the year, in addition to holding a license "open" for East St. Louis, and five more by Jan. 1, 1992, when riverboat gambling will be permitted in on Illinois rivers.

The state had hoped to be in operation by the first of the year, but gaming board spokesman Jim Nelson says the earliest date proposed is August.

"It's up to the boat owners, and how soon they can get the boats in the water," said Nelson. "The applicants are finding out that it takes a while to build boats."

Players Club International has more time to prepare. A gambling operation won't be permitted on the Ohio River until 1992.

Players Club vice chairman David Fishman told the Missourian earlier that the company preferred Metropolis over Cairo because of the low water mark in Cairo, which would have limited the floating casino's movements.

The low water mark will be the boundary of the state borders between Kentucky and Illinois.

Fishman said that company officials "looked at all the options," of having Metropolis as a possible site. The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Illinois of the low-water boundary, and it's up to the two states to decide on one of three options concerning the boundary.

"Two of the options concern the low-water mark of the Ohio River in 1792," said Fishman. "If the decision comes down to the low water mark, Illinois will own only 100 feet of the river at Cairo."

Because of the makeup and changes in the winding river, the low water mark at Metropolis provides a more conducive water route, he said.

Players Club International said the city of Metropolis stands to realize as much as $1.5 million annually, and that the operation could add up to 400 new jobs.