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Race for Missouri’s 13th Casino License Heats Up

Posted on November 29th, 2010

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Befire the Missouri Gaming Commission could decide on which company to award the State’s 13th casino license, bidders have already faced other challenges. For Cape Girardeau, there is a move to place a ban on smoking in public venues, which may possibly affect its chances. According to its spokesperson LeAnn McCarthy, the effort may or may not hurt Cape’s chances of sealing the casino deal. Moreover, she said there has been no mention of the concern by anyone in the commission. She said, “But it is one of many issues the commission will take into consideration while making its decision.”

The group behind the effort to ban public smoking is Breathe Easy Cape Girardeau, which claimed that it has already collected more than 2,500 signatures from people who have thrown support to their advocacy of banning public smoking in Cape. The signatures would still need to be certified, after which the commissioners of the city commissioners could put into place a smoking ban. The commissioners may also reject it. The issue would then be put on the ballot for the residents to vote on.
The issue may only be minor as a 42-page report was released Friday, finding Cape Girardeau as the best location for a new casino in Missouri. The report states that planned Isle of Capri-Cape Girardeau would “generate the highest net new casino revenue and gaming taxes, new employment, and overall, Gross Domestic Product.” The report listed Casino Celebration-St. Louis as a consistent second in worst, average and best-case scenarios. The Paragon Gaming-Sugar Creek meanwhile was third.

The Cape’s Mayor, Harry Rediger said he had already reviewed the report. He added that it clearly shows that the city is leading the pack in the 13th and final casino license of the state. The license became available as the President Casino in St. Louis closed. The mayor commented, “I feel like we’re the favorite. I feel like this is one of the biggest opportunities ever for Cape Girardeau.” Mitch Robinson of Cape Girardeau Area MAGNET for economic development said, “The report is very positive for the Cape location.” He further notes that an independent company has also done some calculations of the project in relation to the three locations and they are almost the same as the ones in a report presented by Isle of Capri a few months ago. He added, “The numbers matched almost exactly. We feel it confirms Cape is the best location for the boat.” The said report was made by the Missouri Department of Economic Development for the Missouri Gaming Commission. The license will only be awarded to the developer once the casino finally opens.

On the other hand, the Mayor of the consistently 3rd placer Sugar Creek, Stan Salva has expressed disappointment in the same economic analysis report. He claimed to the Kansas City Star, “Obviously, they focused on just the casinos themselves, but our plan was never just a casino. Our proposal purposely was for a destination resort that was going to bring great economic development to the entire community of eastern Jackson County. But that was not apparently taken into account. I don’t think that’s proper.”

The announcement will be made by the commission on Wednesday, and despite the report’s contents, Salva said there is still hope and will still attend the announcement meeting. Even businessmen in the area are still holding on to hope. The owner of Jim’s Family Restaurant in Sugar Creek, Jim McGonigle, says that he is already concocted plans if his city gets the license. “I’d even consider buying a bus to take people to the casino if they eat here. I’ll drive you free to the casino.” As for the economic benefits, he is very positive of the casino’s tremendous effect, “They claim it would bring about a thousand jobs, which would be great,” McGonigle said. “The economy the way it is, any job would help Missouri and Sugar Creek both.”

Another resident of the city, Kevin Onka said that people would really appreciate the boost the casino would bring, although they admit it’s not really the last resort. He adds, “A casino. I guarantee you it would go over a lot better here than in Cape Girardeau.”