DATES SET FOR AZTAR LICENSING HEARINGS

CARUTHERSVILLE -- The doors to the "City of Caruthersville" riverboat may swing open to the public sometime during the evening of April 26.

The Missouri Gaming Commission has scheduled two days of public hearings, April 25 and 26, on the Aztar Corp. application for a riverboat casino license at Caruthersville.

The commission will hold its "suitability hearing" at 10 a.m. April 25, and its licensing hearing at 9:30 a.m. April 26. In between, the commission will hold its "shakedown" cruise.

"We could be ready to open April 26," said Michael J. Facenda, marketing manager for Casino Aztar at Caruthersville.

The riverboat, which is designed to accommodate 600 passengers, in addition to crew, will be moved to its launching barge Saturday.

"The boat has been in Caruthersville a few weeks and has now been fitted with gaming machines, table games and other equipment," Facenda said. "Workers have been training every day, and we'll be ready for opening."

The boat will be moved to the Casino Aztar docking barge along the Mississippi River in downtown Caruthersville Saturday, he said.

"We're expecting a lot of people to get their first look at the riverboat casino Saturday," he said.

Work continues on the company's land-based facility, which will include a pavilion for ticketing, parking -- 1,000 spaces plus 14 bus parking spaces and 67 RV parking spaces.

The land facility, which is expected to open in July, also includes a 268-seat restaurant, 40-seat snack bar, 172-seat sports bar and a gift shop.

The total project budget is about $55 million, up from the original estimate of $40 million.

The "City of Caruthersville" will be the sixth riverboat operation in Missouri, which already has operations in the Kansas City, St. Joseph, St. Louis and St. Charles areas.

Casino Aztar, which has a potential market of more than 600,000 people living within a 60-mile radius of Caruthersville, expects to have more than a million visitors the first year.

The boat will run eight cruises, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. every two hours, Sunday through Thursday. Two more cruises -- midnight and 2 a.m. -- will be added each Friday and Saturday.

Aztar will employ between 500 and 700 people at Caruthersville.

Meanwhile, construction continues on another Missouri gambling casino facility, Sam's Town Kansas City, a development by Boyd Gaming Corp.

The Sam's Town Kansas City facility, looking to a July opening, will be a 32-acre project which will include a casino, the Final Score Sports Bar, the All-American Bar and Grille, the Uptown Buffet and Calamity Jane's Ice Cream Parlor.