Judge tosses lawsuit on casino ballet measure

By RICK ALM
The Kansas City Star

A
Cole County judge Monday dismissed a lawsuit that sought to block the
casino loss-limit repeal measure from the Nov. 4 Missouri ballot.

Cole
County District Judge Richard G. Callahan said the plaintiffs failed to
prove their claim that the ballot measure amounted to unlawful “log
rolling” that wrapped unrelated issues into one ballot item.

“Logrolling
relates to different subjects,” Callahan ruled. “These provisions all
relate to gambling revenues” and the ballot questions meets the
requirements of the law.

Rep. Ray Salva a Sugar Creek Democrat and a plaintiff in the case, said Callahan’s ruling would be appealed.

“We’re going to take it all the way” to the state Supreme Court, said Salva. “We believe we are right.”

Troy Stremming, a vice president with Ameristar Casinos,
said: “We’re pleased the court agreed our opponents’ legal argument had
no merit. We’re confident that Missouri voters will also agree and see
the value in over $100 million a year in funding to education while
allowing Missouri casinos to compete on a level playing field.”

Passage
would eliminate Missouri’s unique loss-limit rule that restricts
gamblers to a buy-in of no more than $500 every two hours.

The
measure also would raise casino taxes by one percentage point, to 21
percent of gross revenues, eliminate mandatory use of identity cards by
gamblers, and cap the number of casinos statewide at 13, including one
under construction near St. Louis.

Two plaintiffs, Salva and
David Knight, have publicly advocated for casinos in their home
communities of Sugar Creek and Cape Girardeau.

In an interview with members of the editorial board of The Kansas City Star a
few hours before Callahan issued his ruling, Salva contended that the
state‘s revenue estimate of $105 million a year in new tax dollars for
education was flawed and that the net revenue gain to the state would
be zero dollars.

Joe Martin, chief of staff for the auditor’s
office, said the estimate was from several sources, including the state
gaming commission and the office of administration’s division of budget
and planning.