More casinos interested in Cape Girardeau

Casino companies are showing a growing curiosity about Cape Girardeau in advance of Saturday's deadline for cities, counties and casino operators to tell the Missouri Gaming Commission they want the state's sole available license.

A St. Louis-based company that initially approached the city about locating a gambling boat here has continued to court city officials, Mayor Harry Rediger said Wednesday. A handful of other companies have made "nibble kind of contacts," he said, including one that is showing interesting in partnering with local businessmen Jim Riley and David Knight in a project along North Main Street.

Six locations so far, including Cape Girardeau, have told the commission they want the license being surrendered by Pinnacle Entertainment when it closes the President Casino in St. Louis on July 1. No casino companies have done so, and commission executive director Gene McNary said he doesn't expect any to do so until they form partnerships with cities or counties to submit applications.

The Saturday deadline for expressing interest isn't absolute, McNary said, but it will show where interest is highest. The commission staff will follow up May 18 by meeting with representatives of the localities to discuss what a formal application must include and how long it will take to put applications together.

The commission meets again May 26, and McNary anticipates application deadlines will be set with the expectation that the license will be awarded in the fall.

Commission chairman Jim Mathewson of Sedalia, Mo., "believes that in the best interest of the state it needs to be expedited," McNary said. "If there is going to be a license issued, there is going to have to be construction and it is going to take a while. We at the gaming commission don't want to be the cause of any delays."

Cape Girardeau will also move quickly to find a partner, Rediger said. The city council will discuss what must be included in a request for proposals that will be prepared if the city is asked to submit an application, Rediger said.

Right now, the city is in limbo about how or whether to move ahead, Rediger said.

"We are firmly planted in midair," he said.

The laws governing the award of licenses require the commission to consider the state and local revenue a casino would generate, the environmental effects, whether a new casino would cut into the business at other casinos and the socioeconomic benefits, McNary said. The commission will decide how much weight each of those factors will be given, he said.

But with the added urgency of the state budget crunch, a top consideration could be how fast a new casino can start producing tax revenue. That could bode well for Cape Girardeau if it partners with the St. Louis company, which has a 34,000-square-foot banquet boat that could be converted to casino use. City officials have declined to name the company.

"If an applicant comes in and says, 'We will put a vessel on the river and run the casino immediately while we are building a new facility in a moat,' I believe that would play well with the commission," McNary said.

Along with Cape Girardeau, the proposed locations for a casino so far are:

* Sugar Creek, Mo., in eastern Jackson County near Kansas City.

* West Alton, Mo., in St. Charles County just north of the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.

* Spanish Lake, Mo., in northern St. Louis County near the Columbia Bottoms Conservation Area just south of the confluence of the two rivers.

* St. Louis, with two locations near Interstate 270. One proposed location is just north of the highway, while the other is just to the south near the Chain of Rocks Bridge.

The commission will want to see market studies from each applicant showing anticipated attendance and tax revenue for the state and the local community, McNary said. Those studies will likely show the each proposed casino in the best possible light, he added.

The commission also expects existing casinos to submit market studies, and McNary said he won't be surprised if those studies show that additional casinos will dilute business without bringing the state significant new revenue.

The Missouri Department of Economic Development will be asked to analyze the studies and come back with a reliable, objective picture of the economic effect of each proposal, McNary said.

Once applications are submitted, the commission will hold hearings in each competing city to hear arguments for and against any particular proposal. That would be when a group seeking to block Cape Girardeau from having a boat would get a chance to explain why it doesn't want a casino here, McNary said.

"If Cape Girardeau is on that short list, there will be a hearing there and everybody would have a chance to be heard," McNary said. "The chairman feels that this is the way to allow everybody their day in the sun."

rkeller@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent addresses:

Cape Girardeau, MO

West Alton, MO

Sugar Creek, MO

Spanish Lake, MO

St. Louis, MO