ECONOMICS, MORALITY AND GAMBLING ON THE MISSISSIPPI

Center of photograph above, Bill Boyd, executive director of a Las Vegas-based gaming and resort company, talks with S.E. Missouri Council on the Arts director Beverly Strohmeyer. Behind, Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce executive director Robert Hendrix points to the Boyd Group's proposed riverboat casino while Joe Gamble, plant manager at Biokyowa, looks on.

Editor's note: the following questions were answered by Evelyn Boardman, local coordinator for the Boyd Group, a gaming and resort company based in Las Vegas, Nev. Boardman is a Cape Girardeau native who has lived here with her family the past 20 years.

1. To quote from a letter to the Missourian: "The promise of fast money is a powerful aphrodisiac to young people. The more exposure they have to gambling, the more likely they are to have a gambling problemit (gambling) is no less addictive than drugs or alcohol and within 10 years will become just as big a problem in the U.S." This Cape citizen went on to talk about crime - including theft, embezzlement, pimping and prostitution - that he was convinced would result from the legalization of gambling.

Isn't it a fact that wherever gambling has been legalized compulsive gambling and crime escalates in that community?

Statistics show that the crime rates have absolutely not increased in Alton or Peoria, Ill., since the advent of riverboat gambling. It is a fact that the crime rate in St. Louis is twice that of Las Vegas. Orlando, Fla, home of Disneyworld, has a higher crime rate than Las Vegas.

2. If we look at the histories of the state lottery and legalized bingo in Missouri, we see that over time the regulations limiting these enterprises have been liberalized. Why should Cape Girardeau citizens expect that riverboat gambling regulations - the $500 limit, for example - won't be liberalized, too? Or, taking into consideration what happened in Iowa - where a $200 limit was cited as the reason several riverboats ultimately departed for states like Illinois, where there is no limit - should they be liberalized?

Our Missouri Legislature has been most diligent and deliberate with their research efforts in order to present the citizens with a tightly regulated gaming industry.

3. If gambling is approved and a riverboat comes to Cape Girardeau, why won't it leave as soon as it gets a better offer from another town?

The $37.5 million investment proposal by the Boyd Group includes $15 million in land based facilities which could not be moved from Cape. This implies a tremendous statement of intent to establish a long term relationship with the city.

4. To quote from another letter written to the Missourian: "The downtown merchants may believe that riverboat gambling operations will bring more customers to their shops and restaurants. However, as the gambling boats lower their prices for meals to lure people to their gaming tables, local businesses will actually suffer."

Isn't this true in many cases?With the possibility of more than 3000 tourists daily passing through the city of Gape, we dont know anyone thinking in terms of negative business factors.

5. Riverboat gambling has an early track record of being extremely successful in generating money for local municipalities. But doesn't this economic success come in part because the riverboat casino drains money from the municipalities of neighboring counties? For example, wouldn't Bollinger, Scott and Perryville counties suffer if riverboat gambling comes to Cape Girardeau?

A large portion of gaming revenues go directly to the state through mandatory legislation for distribution back throughout the state. The surrounding counties would certainly fare well with the offering of 800 primary jobs and 800 additional secondary jobs.

6. Let's say that riverboat gambling is approved and a boat comes to Cape Girardeau within a year. Describe your vision of Cape Girardeau and Southeast Missouri, specifically focusing on riverboat gambling's impact, ten years down the road.

We would like to see Southeast Missouri and Cape Girardeau as a thriving tourism destination point, the offshoots being lowered unemployment and a nearly $2,000,000 annual increase to the city budget to be used for amenities such as streets, sewers, sanitation and education.

7. Finally, the opponents to riverboat gambling include many church organizations. What do you think about the argument that you are selling out your morals for economic benefit?

Most of those who have opposed gaming have done so on moral grounds and each person certainly has that right, but we see this as an economic issue.