BOYD HOPES TO OPEN RIVERBOAT IN 1997

It's not likely that any construction will be visible on a proposed riverboat gambling project here in 1996.

Boyd Gaming officials say they will open a riverboat casino along the Mississippi River in downtown Cape Girardeau but that it could be more than a year before any construction can get under way.

"We're still interested in the Cape Girardeau project but our hands are tied," said Maunty C. Collins, senior vice president and director of operations, central region for Boyd Gaming.

The Missouri Gaming Commission announced in mid-1995 that it would not select any new gambling companies for consideration and investigation within the next year to 18 months.

That still stands, said Harold Bailey of the gaming commission.

"We're about a third of the way into that time period," said Bailey. "It could come any time between May and December of 1996, and we may not even make a selection at that time."

Bailey added, however, that all gambling companies that have applied for gaming licenses are being asked to update their applications. "They will also be asked to make an oral presentation to the commission before May of 1996," he said.

As many as 20 applications are on file with the commission.

Boyd Gaming, which opened a casino more than two months ago in downtown Kansas City, has yet to make application for the Cape Girardeau site.

However, a gaming development contract between Boyd Gaming and the city of Cape Girardeau could be signed in January.

Boyd and city attorneys have been working on the contract, which is expected to be ready for City Council action next month, said Cape Girardeau Mayor Al Spradling III.

"We expect to see a signed contract in January," said Spradling.

The $52 million Boyd project includes a three-deck, 254-foot riverboat; a five-level parking garage; a terminal building that will provide the main entrance to the casino complex and include a 250-seat buffet restaurant; a 225-seat entertainment lounge, including a bandstand, dance floor and bar; a pedestrian bridge crossing the river wall; and the docking barge.

Boyd plans also call for improvements to the Buckner-Ragsdale building at the corner of Main and Broadway. The building is to become administrative space for the casino.

Included in the proposed development contract are a number of improvements Boyd will make to city streets, water mains and sewer lines, along with the company's planned buildings and parking lots.

Over the past two years, Boyd Gaming Company of Las Vegas has acquired a combination of property and property options along a stretch that reaches from Broadway north to the site which once housed International Shoe Co. and from Main Street east to the railroad tracks along the inside of the river wall.

Boyd's first proposal for a gaming project here came in January 1993, with a projected opening late in 1995. But the plans had to await the results of two state and two city elections.

The latest projection from Boyd officials is a 1997 opening.

Boyd's downtown Kansas City operation opened more than two months ago, and the numbers have been less than impressive.

"We didn't start out like a house afire," said Collins, "but we have confidence in the property. Like any business, it's still early, and it takes time to market. We're very optimistic about our Kansas City property."

Boyd spent more than $140 million on its Kansas City development. The Sam's Town gambling revenue has averaged $5.5 million per month so far.

Analysts say that, ideally, a casino's annual gambling revenue should equal the capital expense to develop it.

Unless the numbers improve, Missouri's Sam's Towns could fall far short of those totals.

Visitors to the Kansas City operation say parking and access to the casino is less than ideal. Customers have to park in a garage and use people movers to cross railroad tracks to the casino.

Boyd Gaming, headquartered in Las Vegas, operates casinos in Mississippi and Louisiana. Sam's Town at Tunica, Miss., continues to attract large crowds.