COMMISSION OKs BOYD'S KC REQUEST

Kansas City's third riverboat casino and the state's eighth started rolling dice and dealing cards at 6 p.m. Wednesday following the Missouri Gaming Commission's 3-0 vote of approval earlier in the day.

But, like the six casinos that opened in Missouri over the past 18 months, Kansas City's latest riverboat, Judy's Prize, which won't be going anywhere.

Boyd Gaming Corp., which has plans to place a riverboat casino in Cape Girardeau, received permission to remain dockside long before it opened its Kansas City boat. That leaves Casino Aztar's City of Caruthersville riverboat the stepchild among the state's gambling casinos.

Aztar, which petitioned the gaming commission to remain dockside, has the only cruising riverboat casino, and it sails only during daylight hours.

St. Charles Casino and St. Joe Frontier joined the dockside group about a month ago.

It's sort of a temporary-permanent situation for the latter two. Both have asked for dockside operations. Following hearings the commission granted temporary dockside permission until a permanent ruling is made.

Meanwhile, Casino Aztar is seeking dockside operation and additional gambling positions adjacent to the landing barge. The commission is expected to establish a hearing on Aztar's request within the next 30 to 60 days, said Kevin Mulallally of the commission office in Jefferson City.

The seven companies that now have eight gambling operations on Missouri rivers:

-- The Admiral, St. Louis.

-- Argosy Casino at Riverside, a suburb of Kansas City,

-- Boyd Gaming in northeast Kansas City, the operation approved Wednesday.

-- Casino Aztar, Caruthersville.

-- Harrah's North Star, North Kansas City.

-- St. Charles Casino I and St. Charles Casino II, both in St. Charles.

-- St. Joe Frontier, St. Joseph.

"It's been a long time coming," said Gina Polovina, community affairs manager for Boyd in Las Vegas.

A crowd started gathering at the $140 million complex long before the 6 o'clock opening of the casino.

"There were some disappointed people," said Polovina, who was on hand for the opening in Kansas City. "There just wasn't enough room for everybody on the first cruise, which was at its 1,650-passenger capacity."

There was also some excitement at the Boyd office in downtown Cape Girardeau.

"Our telephone has been ringing all day," said Evelyn Boardman in the Cape Girardeau office. "People from this area are already wanting to make reservations at Kansas City."

Company officials on hand for the first cruise at Kansas City were William Boyd, chairman of the board; Maunty Collins, a senior vice president and director of central region operations; and Norman Powell, general manager of the Kansas City Sam's Town facility.

The commission's approval also included the licensing of 14 Boyd Gaming officials, including William Boyd.