CASINOS TOUT LOSSES TO GET LEGISLATIVE RELIEF

Last week's report that all but two of Missouri's riverboat casinos are losing money should not be a cause for alarm. There are, as most serious gamblers know, a lot of ways to calculate losses.

The news that the casinos are in such dire financial straits came as the result of an effort by the riverboat owners to convince state lawmakers that current loss limits and other regulations are hurting business. Efforts to get these changes through last year's legislative session were unsuccessful.

So now the casinos have hired an accounting firm to put together the figures to show how bad it really is. Almost any business owner could do the same thing with the proper understanding of depreciation and other costs that have little impact on cash flow.

Casinos owners have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into fancy land-based gambling joints in Missouri. Charged against what the casinos are taking in from hapless losers, this depreciation cost leaves more red ink than black.

It's an interesting way to campaign for legislative relief. We'll see next year if Missouri's lawmakers are ready to fall for it.