MISSOURI BECOMES MAJOR GAMBLING-INTENSIVE STATE

JEFFERSON CITY -- With voter approval of amendments 8 and 9 on Nov. 3, Missouri has become one of the nation's most gambling-intensive states, offering a constantly expanding number of gambling opportunities.

Missouri's gambling-intensive designation stems from conclusions reached by a special study by the Council of State Governments, which recently sponsored an extensive review of various kinds of gambling sanctioned by voter referendums or state governments, or both.

With approval of Amendment 8, which erases existing statutes barring certain kinds of raffles and sweepstakes, Missouri has moved still closer to the point of sanctioning and even sponsoring in some cases virtually every type of gambling available with the exception of tribal Indian casinos.

Missouri has no compact with any American Indian tribe, primarily because it contains no federally recognized unit within its borders. An attempt by one tribe to expand its bingo hall across the Oklahoma border in order to build a casino at Seneca, Mo., is opposed by local and state officials. The matter is still under litigation.

Other attempts to install additional games of chance, including so-called Internet gambling, have been thwarted in the past in the Missouri General Assembly, and the question became moot when efforts were successful in Congress recently, with a Senate vote of 90 to 10, to ban all forms of gambling on the Internet.

A second gambling referendum, Amendment 9, paves the way for further expansion of riverboat casinos, which are now entitled to become so-called boats in moats. The approval of this less expensive method of creating casinos on the state's two principal rivers could trigger an acceleration of new sites in competition for gambling dollars. After approval of Amendment 9, work will get under way on a new casino site in mid-Missouri at Boonville. Work was halted on that sanctioned casino until there permission was granted to place the operation on a permanently moored barge.

Several other areas have been surveyed by gambling firms as potential sites on both rivers, but all decisions have been put on hold until the moats issue was decided Nov. 3. It is believed the amendment's approval will whet gambling firms' appetites for further expansion within the state, which in the past has been postponed because of such undecided issues as legalization of slot machines and the permanently moored barges.

Not counting the Boonville project, Missouri has 16 licensed casinos issued to 10 companies. There are some sites with riverboat and moat casinos at the same location. This compares to 10 facilities in neighboring Illinois, 10 in Iowa, eight in Indiana, 12 in New Jersey, 29 in Mississippi and 429 in Nevada -- with 211 of these in Las Vegas.

Some states in the region have no state-regulated or voter-sanctioned casinos save operations established by American Indian tribes.

The Council of State Governments study group found that the current gambling popularity stems back to 1964 when New Hampshire revived the concept of state lotteries, which now operate in 37 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Missouri joined the parade after lotteries in some neighboring states became popular, and some games have become so lucrative that lotteries provide some smaller states with their third or fourth largest source of revenue.

The national study group was told by Missouri lottery officials that they expect an increase in the game's revenue in future years, particularly with approval of Amendment 8. The group concluded, however, that low-income residents spend a disproportionate amount of their income on these games, which in turn requires greater public-assistance payments by the state.

No definitive recommendation was made on how to reduce their dependence, and no efforts were reported on programs designed to reduce disproportionate low-wage-earner risk spending.

The same group was also told by Missouri Gaming Commission officials that the number of casino players will increase in the state over the next several years. In some states, a majority of casino players are local residents, but Tunica County, Miss., with the third-largest casino operations after Las Vegas and Atlantic City, draws 70 percent of its players from out of state.

Survey respondents from several states appear to be uncertain if casinos have made a contribution to their state's revenue base. Some claimed these venues have made a significant contribution, while an almost equal number said no major increases have been detected.

A Council of State Governments official said Missouri has made no comprehensive study of positive and negative results from either its casino gambling or its state lottery programs. The official noted, however, that both gambling forms have a relatively brief history, predicting it would take several years for states to determine the true worth or damage of casinos and lotteries. "Remember," he said, "10 years ago legalized casino gambling was operated in just two jurisdictions in the United States: Atlantic City in New Jersey and Nevada."

Since 1989, however, casinos have been approved by more than 20 states.

With Missouri casinos' having successfully overcome earlier operational restrictions, the industry is already making plans to win more concessions on other principal sore points: the $2 admission charge, the $500 loss limit, and the restricted boarding periods. These, says an industry spokesman, are unfair to the casinos and lower their profits.

When the General Assembly convenes in January, the industry will see to it that bills are introduced that will either reduce or end the boarding fee, which in most cases is waived for the customer and simply paid by the casinos, and an end to strict boarding timetables. Speaking from a confidence borne by victory from the boats-in-moat referendum on Nov. 3, the spokesman predicted the new Legislature would "make the corrections necessary."