This is from the St.Louis Business Journal-
The St. Louis Port
Authority board on Tuesday approved hiring law firms Stinson Morrison
Hecker LLP and Thompson
Coburn LLP in matters relating to the future of the President
Casino riverboat and its valuable gaming
license.
In late
August, the Missouri Gaming
Commission said Pinnacle
Entertainment (NYSE: PNK), the owner of the President
Casino, can’t replace the 60-year-old riverboat without seeking a new gaming
license. The decision to no longer certify the President Casino for passengers
after July 2010 could free up a gaming license, the number of which voters limited to
13 when they approved Proposition A
last year.
Before the port
authority voted Tuesday, Rodney Crim, executive director of the St. Louis
Development Corp., addressed the board, saying that in
earlier hearings with the Missouri Gaming Commission, Pinnacle had made it clear
that it wanted to replace the riverboat rather than relocate it. “In
Missouri
, replacement of
boats has occurred before,” Crim said. However, the gaming commission’s decision
not to entertain any plans to replace or repair the boat and that any change
would require a new gaming license, “affects the city, because we have a lease
with the President Casino,” he said.
Crim asked the
port authority board to approve retaining Stinson Morrison and Thompson Coburn
“in determining what our standings are as a home dock city and what actions to
take to protect our two gaming licenses in the
city.”
“We want to
continue to work well with the gaming commission,” Crim told the board. “We have
a responsibility to understand what all our options
are.”
Joan Miller, a
member of the port authority board, asked Crim what the gaming commission’s
intentions were.
“We’re not
completely clear on that,” Crim responded. “They have a resolution that any
change would require a new license. We don’t understand completely what that
means and what can and cannot be done.” He reiterated that there’s a history in
Missouri
of
boats being replaced but didn’t give specific
examples.
“As a city we
want to protect our two licenses,” he told the board. Las Vegas-based Pinnacle
also owns the Lumiere
Place casino complex on Laclede’s Landing. “A company has
invested in the city by acquiring two licenses. They have complied with gaming
regulations as we understand.”
Port authority
board member Matthew McBride mentioned the state’s cap on gaming licenses; Crim
responded, “That is a concern as well.”
Crim mentioned
both Greg Omer, a Thompson Coburn partner, and Jane Dueker, of counsel at
Stinson, as being familiar with local gaming licenses. Omer is a former general
counsel of the Missouri Gaming Commission, and Dueker served as chief legal
counsel and chief of staff to Gov. Bob Holden.
In voting to
hire Thompson Coburn and Stinson Morrison, the Port Authority board did not
discuss financial terms. A representative of the city’s legal staff said that
the firms are on the city’s “short list” and went through the city’s normal
solicitation process.
