NO DECISION ON CHANNEL CASINO; GAMING PANEL PUSHED ON ISSUE

SCOTT CITY -- A proposed casino on the Diversion Channel likely won't float in Missouri.

The site proposed for a Lady Luck casino near Interstate 55 and the Rhodes Travel Center is more than two miles from the Mississippi River, and that apparently doesn't comply with the boats-in-moats measure approved by Missouri voters last November.

The measure amended the state constitution to allow casino gambling in artificial moats within 1,000 feet of the closest edge of the main channel of the Missouri or Mississippi rivers.

"The issue at that site is whether it can be considered part of the Mississippi River," said C.E. Fisher, executive director of the Missouri Gaming Commission.

All of the 10 casinos in Missouri are on or within 1,000 feet of the Mississippi or Missouri rivers. None operate on drainage channels like the Diversion Channel, Fisher said Wednesday.

But Scott City Councilman Kevin Greshem isn't ready to give up on the gambling venture. He pleaded Wednesday with the Missouri Gaming Commission to act on the 4-year-old casino application.

Lady Luck Gaming Corp. of Las Vegas has proposed to develop a $65 million casino complex. But the gaming commission won't say when or even if it will act on the application.

Greshem made a brief presentation at the commission's meeting in Jefferson City Wednesday. Lady Luck didn't send any of its company personnel to the meeting.

"I told them that Lady Luck's application was complete; that they met all the requirements that they have been asked to meet," the councilman said.

Greshem came away from the meeting with no answers. "It's kind of frustrating not to get a decision," he said from his car phone as he drove back to Scott City.

Greshem would like to see Lady Luck licensed to build a casino in Scott City, believing it would pay economic dividends for the city government and the community. But he said even a rejection is better than no decision.

"We want an answer so we can move on," said Greshem, who heads the Scott City Council's gaming committee.

Greshem said the preferred casino site is on the Diversion Channel near Interstate 55. But he told the commissioners that a site near the Southeast Missouri Regional Port on the Mississippi River might be a possibility if the Diversion Channel site isn't suitable.

But Lady Luck has shown little interest in a port site.

Dan Overbey, who directs the port authority, said he hasn't talked with Lady Luck representatives in the past few years. He said Lady Luck would have to build up any site near the port to protect it from river flooding. That could cost $50,000 to $60,000 an acre.

The Lady Luck proposal envisioned 20 acres just for parking. At that rate, the company would have to spend more than $1 million just to build up the site, Overbey said.

He also questioned the suitability of having a casino operating at an industrial port.

The port authority isn't looking to land a casino. "We haven't solicited anything. We have been pursuing industrial development," said Overbey.

The gaming commission's Fisher said the commission doesn't want to approve new casinos in the state if they would cause economic hardship for existing casinos.

"We are concerned about competition to existing casinos," said Fisher.

Casino Aztar at Caruthersville is the only casino operating in Southeast Missouri. It is a major employer in an area where unemployment is high. The commission doesn't want to cause financial hardships for the Caruthersville casino, he said.