Editorial

ANOTHER CASINO LAWSUIT WILL TEST LEGAL WATER

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Operators of the St. Joseph casino gambling boat have sued the Missouri Gaming Commission, saying the panel backed off the required final inspection of a casino expansion in a moat because of a state Supreme Court decision. St. Joseph Riverboat Partners asked a Cole County circuit judge to force the commission to move ahead with final checks of the new casino, warning that failure to open by New Year's Eve would cause it "default and serious irreparable injury and harm." The partnership has loans outstanding that specify as an event of default its failure to open on time. Opening had been planned for Dec. 23. It said the partnership had received every regulatory approval from the commission, and final inspection is a function that the panel has no discretion in delaying.

This may or may not be the case, of course. The legal clash was made inevitable when the state's highest court ruled Nov. 25 that the Missouri Constitution doesn't allow gambling boats to float on artificial basins filled with water from the Missouri or Mississippi rivers. This ruling revived a Cole County lawsuit by gambling foes, who claimed casino boats on the Missouri River at Maryland Heights in St. Louis County didn't comply with the Constitution because they float in moats.

The Supreme Court acted correctly. Sorting out the consequences falls to the lower courts, faced with real fact situations such as has arisen in St. Joseph. It is perhaps an unenviable task, even a messy one, but it is the very reason for which we have courts.