CASINO SAILS ON WITH SCOTT CITY PLANS; STATE CAUTIOUS ON ISSUING NEW LICENSES

Lady Luck Gaming Corp. is moving ahead with its Scott City riverboat gambling plans.

"Not much is happening with new casino licenses at present," said Michael A. Hlavsa, a Lady Luck executive from Las Vegas. "But, we're moving ahead."

Lady Luck is one of several gambling operators which presented market updates to the Missouri Gaming Commission during a six-hour session Tuesday.

Missouri gaming officials are proceeding cautiously on awarding new riverboat licenses.

"Market saturation" was the topic during the Tuesday meeting between Missouri Gaming Commission officials, casino operators and potential gaming representatives Tuesday.

Boat operators waiting to be licensed, St. Louis businessmen and politicians told the Missouri Gaming Commission in hearings Wednesday that the gambling market would continue to grow and urged regulators to lift the moratorium on new gaming licenses.

But existing casino owners and gaming experts from St. Louis and Kansas City argued that too many gaming boats would saturate the market.

They asked the commission to wait a year and study the impact of casino boats already licensed.

The commission heard from 14 gaming companies Wednesday, said Mike Ryan, a spokesman for the Missouri Riverboat Gaming Association.

"The commission will meet next month to hear comments from investment banking and stock analysts," he said.

Commission Chairman Robert Wolfson said that a decision probably wouldn't come soon, and when it did, it would likely lean toward caution in expanding Missouri's casino markets.

"We probably should crawl rather than walk," said Wolfson.

The commission is not expected to make a decision before November at the earliest, and may wait up to a year.

Six companies seeking licenses in St. Louis said the gambling market there could range from $630 million to $1.2 billion a year. The market now is $417 million a year.

Other analysts have said that the Kansas City market could see growth of anywhere from $386 million to $503 million.

Those numbers were disputed by executives of some existing casino boats.

Officials from Argosy Gambling, which operates the Alton Belle, Station Casinos of St. Charles and President Riverboat Casino, which has the Admiral in downtown St. Louis, say too many boats will spread profits too thin, causing some to fail.

Some casinos advocates are waiting for licenses for proposed projects in the metropolitan areas of St. Louis and Kansas City, and some smaller companies are waiting for licenses in regional markets, at Ste. Genevieve, Kimmswick, Scott City, Louisiana and Boonville.

Representatives from Lady Luck were first to present updated market information at Tuesday's session.

"We believe the gaming market is there," Hlavsa said of the Scott City area.

Scott City is about 80 miles from Aztar Casino at Caruthersville and about 60 miles from Players Casino at Metropolis, Ill.

"We believe our big market thrust will be within a 50-mile radius."

Lady Luck has a city contract with Scott City and has filed its license request with the gaming commission.

The company has also been working with the Corps of Engineers and is hopeful that Corp approval of its site will be coming in the near future.

Lady Luck has also filed for a license at Kimmswick.

Some companies were not present at the hearings. Entertainment Ventures, which has proposed a $100 million project north of Laclede's Landing, was not represented at the meeting, nor was Boyd Gaming Corp., which has Sam's Town Casino at Kansas City, did not have representation.

Boyd has also proposed a $51.2 million casino operation for Cape Girardeau, but has not filed for a state license to date.

Boyd officials, however, say their are still interested in downtown Cape Girardeau location.

The company has acquired property along the river flood wall, from Broadway north, and maintains an office in the downtown area.