First batch of casino signatures delivered to city

A group hoping to force a Nov. 2 vote on casino gambling on Tuesday delivered almost 60 percent of the signatures needed to Cape Girardeau City Hall.

Doug Austin, a leader of Quality of Life in Cape Girardeau, delivered 91 pages with signatures to city clerk Gayle Conrad and said he hopes his group can complete the petition drive this weekend.

The petition pages will be numbered and copied then sent to Cape Girardeau County Clerk Kara Clark Summers for verification.

Quality of Life in Cape Girardeau must gather 2,635 signatures from registered voters living within city limits to force the vote. Austin said that the volunteer petition circulators have reported to him that they have a total of 2,619 signatures but he did not have all the pages in hand by this morning.

If successful, Conrad said, the petition drive will be the first city issue put on the ballot by residents since she became city clerk in 1992.

Cape Girardeau is one of at least five communities vying for the state's only available casino license. The President Casino in St. Louis will close next week, opening up one of the state's 13 licenses.

The Missouri Gaming Commission last month set a Sept. 1 deadline for formal applications from casino developers. By Oct. 1, communities hoping to win the casino competition must comment on applications submitted for their locations, said LeAnn McCarthy. Commissioners said last month that they expect to choose a location by the end of the year.

Cape Girardeau city manager Scott Meyer has set July 8 as the date of a special city council meeting to hear proposals from developers hoping to locate in the city. Three development groups, one local and two from outside the area, have publicly expressed interest in building the casino, and more could emerge by July 8.

Cape Girardeau is viewed as one of the top contenders in the casino battle after Ameristar Casinos, which has some of the state's most lucrative gambling establishments in St. Louis and Kansas City, said new casinos in either of those markets would eat into revenue at existing locations. The state's other casino operators have also reported economic analyses to the gaming commission, McCarthy said, but those evaluations are closed records. Ameristar's evaluation, announced in a news release issued last month, said a Cape Girardeau casino could expect to have $87 million in net revenue, produce $18.3 million in revenue for schools and $5.3 million in revenue from boarding taxes, money that is split between the state and the city.

Cape Girardeau voters rejected casino gambling in April 1993 but approved it on a second vote in November 1993. The city enlisted Boyd Gaming to pursue a casino license. The company was not successful.

Austin and his group have said their main purpose in forcing another vote is to make sure that Cape Girardeau voters still want a casino. The population of the city has changed in 17 years and the attitude toward gambling may have changed as well, he said.

Most people approached about the petition have been willing to sign it whether they support or oppose gambling. "Many people say, 'Doug, I am going to vote for gambling when we get it on the ballot for the current citizens of Cape Girardeau,'" he said.

As soon as the paperwork arrives, the county clerk's staff will begin reviewing each signature submitted, elections director Joey Keys said. Only signatures from registered voters living within Cape Girardeau will be counted toward the total.

"We are going to process them as fast and as accurately as we can," Keys said.

Austin dismissed suggestions that the vote could cost the city a chance at a windfall of new revenue.

"I am not costing the city anything," he said. "This is within the established guidelines for citizens if they want to put something on the ballot."

rkeller@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

Cape Girardeau, MO