Group that put gambling on ballot to campaign against Cape casino

After successfully petitioning to force a vote on gambling, Quality of Life in Cape Girardeau will reinvent itself this week as a campaign committee to persuade voters to reject a casino, spokesman Doug Austin said Monday.

The core leaders of the group will meet today to discuss how to structure the campaign and what resources are needed, Austin said. The leaders will then address the Cape Girardeau City Council before meeting with what Austin said were 91 volunteers who helped gather the signatures needed to put gambling on the ballot Nov. 2.

Cape Girardeau is one of four communities vying for the lone casino license available in Missouri. A favorable vote Nov. 2 will keep Cape Girardeau in the competition. A vote rejecting gambling would abort Cape Girardeau's bid.

The campaign to reject gambling will not be built on horror stories of people addicted to gambling or predictions that the city will become a breeding ground for crime if a casino opens here, Austin said. Instead, he said the committee will focus on the economic questions of whether money spent at a casino would be spent in Cape Girardeau anyway.

"The one thing this committee will stand for is truth and fairness," Austin said.

The other point the committee will make is that every dollar in local taxes paid by the casino comes at the price of someone losing money while gambling, Austin said.

"In my opinion, this is built on losing," he said. "I do not see the success of our city and the future generations of our city being built on the foundation of people losing money. I don't want to predicate my success on your failure."

Two companies, Isle of Capri Casinos Inc. and St. Louis Capital Partners LLC, have pitched casino ideas to the city council and seem sure to file license applications by Missouri Gaming Commission's Sept. 1 deadline. Isle of Capri has released the most information about its plans, which include room for 1,200 people to play slot machines and table games, restaurants, a bar and a 750-seat conference and entertainment venue.

Isle of Capri expects to hire up to 450 people to take care of an estimated 1 million casino visitors per year.

A study of casino opportunities by Ameristar Casinos, a company that is not competing for the license, showed that Cape Girardeau has the biggest potential for new revenue for the state, with up to $2.6 million also being generated for city coffers.

David Knight, owner of Ole Hickory Pits and a partner in the property where Isle of Capri would like to build, said Austin is wrong about the impact of a casino on the community. "I think it is disingenuous to say that there are only so many dollars and that anything that happens will take from one group of people and give to another," Knight said. "It ignores the fact of 1 million visitors a year, it ignores 450 jobs and it ignores the tremendous tax revenue."

While Austin and casino opponents are organizing, no similar moves by casino supporters have begun, Knight said.

Under state law, committees intending to spend money to influence the Nov. 2 election must submit organization papers by Oct. 3. The committees may file organizational papers with the Missouri Ethics Commission or, since the campaign is all within Cape Girardeau County, with County Clerk Kara Clark Summers.

rkeller@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

Cape Girardeau, MO