GAMESMANSHIP: INDUSTRY ANALYST: GAMBLING CAN BOLSTER STATES, CITIES

Riverboat gambling can be good for states and cities that exert proper controls over the enterprises, a gaming industry analyst says.

"Cities are in a strong position to get a good economic return," Stephen Grogan said Monday. But he cautioned that government must be careful "not to kill the goose that laid the golden egg."

Grogan, the former executive director of the Colorado Gaming Owners Association, is the editor and publisher of The Grogan Report, a Colorado-based gaming industry magazine.

He is traveling through the Midwest to gather information for his publication.

"I'm on the grand river tour. I am looking at every gaming jurisdiction in Missouri," he said.

Grogan was just in Jefferson City talking with legislators about the new proposal to put all gaming activity in the state under the jurisdiction of a single commission.

He supports the plan. In his home state of Colorado, which has both a racing commission and gaming division, each is afraid the other will gain more power, he said.

Bureaucracies that impose a 20 percent tax such as Colorado's, or whose betting limits make it difficult for gaming establishments to compete against those in neighboring states, can endanger the very businesses they regulate, Grogan said.

In Colorado, the result has been layoffs within the gaming industry.

Gaming enterprises should be viewed as partnerships between government and the gaming industry, Grogan said. "Both are in the position of making it work profitably."

He said gaming can be a desirable addition to a city, especially since most establishments also offer shows and restaurants.

"In Cape Girardeau, I think it has to be done carefully, with the concept of it being a fun and exciting place," Grogan said.

But he warned against looking at gaming as an economic panacea. "It is enhancement for everything else around the city."

In Colorado, gaming was used to prevent some places from becoming ghost towns. "Now they complain they have too many people."

He calls opposition to gaming a throwback to the "historic moralism" of the '40s and '50s, when gambling was viewed as degenerative.

Now, he said, gaming is one of the fastest-growing industries in the country, with revenues expanding at a rate of 10 percent per year.

In most localities, the opposition is led by churches, Grogan said.

"There is always a competitive concern. The way I see it, it's riverboat gambling against the bingo."

The charge that gambling brings along crime begs the logic of the situation, Grogan said.

"If you bring in more people you're going to have an increase (in) crime."

But in Colorado, most of the additional crime has been petty and "comes in proportion to the tourists," Grogan said.

"Gaming has become a legitimate way for governments to raise money," he said. "You just have to make sure only the right people come in."

Since governments have discovered gaming as a source of new revenue, Grogan said, the major gaming interests now realize that they can't stay in Las Vegas and be competitive.

Seventeen gaming licenses have been filed in the Biloxi-Gulfport area. "That's a case of saturation," Grogan said.

He said successful gaming enterprises operate under the laws of supply and demand. One or two boats working in the Cape Girardeau area could be successful, he said.

Gaming now is considered a legitimate entertainment industry all across the country, Grogan said. "If Merv Griffin is involved, it must mean something."