Potential Missouri casino sites all have challenges to overcome

A petition drive to force a new vote on gambling in Cape Girardeau will be watched closely by the city's potential competitors in the contest for the only casino license available in Missouri.

A successful petition drive could scuttle Cape Girardeau's effort, with Quality of Life in Cape Girardeau aiming for a Nov. 2 vote that would be near the time the Missouri Gaming Commission would be getting ready to choose a winning applicant in the fall.

But Cape Girardeau isn't the only proposed casino location with issues that must be addressed before a decision is made. The debate in each location, and among casino operators already in business, will probably only grow louder with each step in the application process.

As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said in an editorial last week: "It's time for a long, hot summer of high-stakes hype as the Missouri Gaming Commission prepares to award the state's 13th and last casino license."

The other known competitors include St. Louis, Louisiana, Mo., Sugar Creek, Mo. and Spanish Lake, Mo., in northern St. Louis County.

A casino license is available because the President Casino, operated by Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. on the St. Louis waterfront, must close by July 1. Missouri law limits the state to 13 casinos, and the gaming commission set a precedent that when a casino closes, the commission and not the company involved will decide where and when a new casino will open.

The key issues for each of Cape Girardeau's competitors are:

* Dueling lawsuits involving St. Louis and Pinnacle Entertainment. Both claim the other breached a 2004 contract that helped Pinnacle receive licenses for Lumiere Place in downtown St. Louis and River City Casino in Lemay in St. Louis County.

* Environmental and political opposition to the Spanish Lake proposed casino, which would be built on 377 acres of undeveloped land south of the Columbia Bottoms Conservation Area at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.

* Market size in Louisiana, Mo. The town of about 4,000 is 60 miles from La Grange, Mo., a town of 1,000 that has a casino and is 83 miles from downtown St. Louis.

* Market saturation in the Kansas City area for Sugar Creek. There are four casinos in the Kansas City, Mo., area with a fifth under construction at Kansas Motor Speedway in Kansas City, Kan.

The issues in the St. Louis lawsuit pit the city's desire to replace the tax revenue that will be lost when the President closes against Pinnacle Entertainment's belief that the 2004 contract obliges the city to oppose any new casinos within 25 miles of downtown. "The way we look at it, we are simply enforcing our contractual rights to preserve our investment, which provides 1,700 jobs and $22 million in annual tax revenue," said Kerry Andersen, speaking for Pinnacle.

The lawsuits are in federal court and, unless they are settled quickly, should be pending when the license decision is made. Calls to Patti Hageman, St. Louis city counselor, and a spokesman for Mayor Francis Slay, were not returned.

The environmental opposition to the Spanish Lake development proposal is coming from a coalition of environmental groups ranging from the more conservative Conservation Federation of Missouri to the liberal Sierra Club. They argue that the development, which is in the Mississippi River floodplain, doesn't suit the terrain.

"No large-scale commercial development would ever work with this site," said Caroline Ishida, staff attorney for the Missouri Coalition for the Environment.

The political opposition is coming from the head of St. Louis County government, County Executive Charlie Dooley, who wrote a letter May 13 urging the gaming commission to reject the site.

"What he said was, from his interaction with people from there, leaders in politics and business, that said, 'We don't like this, we don't want this up here,'" said Mac Scott, spokesman for Dooley. "He said he was just not convinced that another casino in St. Louis County makes sense."

Attorney Edward Griesedieck, who represents the investors in North County Development LLC, said his group expects to brush aside opposition by presenting support from unions and communities adjacent to the site. The development would include a golf course, convention center and spa in addition to the casino, with a total of $325 million to $350 million to be invested.

"All boats have to be by the river and they all have exactly the same environmental concerns," Griesedieck said.

The investment group hasn't picked an operator to build the casino, he said. "We are still in the beauty contest stage with several operators, and they are making their final packages."

Louisiana, Mo., also hasn't chosen a casino developer, said Elizabeth Onik, program manager for the Louisiana Economic Development Committee. The city believes it can make a case that it would be a good location because it has a Mississippi River bridge to draw business from Illinois and a large population -- more than 3 million within 100 miles -- to draw on. With high unemployment, the city has a duty to pursue all opportunities, she said.

But the city's actual size is a potential drawback, she acknowledged. "We have a lot of things going for us, but we are small," Onik said. "People may not be looking at us as seriously as we look at ourselves."

Sugar Creek has been seeking a casino for several years but was stymied in 2008 when Missouri voters imposed the new limit on licenses. With four casinos already in place and the speedway casino on the way, Sugar Creek may face opposition from the region as it seeks the license.

At the Missouri Gaming Commission meeting May 26, Vincent Gauthier, executive director of the Port Authority of Kansas City, sought to steer commissioners away from Sugar Creek.

"We believe it is saturated," he said of the Kansas City market. Gauthier did not return messages left last week.

The gaming commission is already accepting applications. But the $50,000 price tag for applying is just a part of the cost, because the commission expects detailed plans and economic analysis, all of which are also expensive.

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Pertinent addresses:

Cape Girardeau, MO

Louisiana, MO

Spanish Lake, MO

St. Louis, MO

Sugar Creek, MO