From St.Josephnewspressnow.com
The flood of 2011 has posed some interesting questions on whether state law should be changed to allow casinos to move inland.Six years ago, Hurricane Katrina demolished many casinos in the South. Some failed to reopen. The storm raised questions then on whether Louisiana would allow casinos to relocate to dryer and much higher ground.Missouri lawmakers and even casino operators don’t believe the idea of a similar action here holds much water. Any decision would first have to go to the voters. And even this far north of the Bible Belt, the extension of riverboat gambling to dry land could see some opposition.“I wouldn’t really be opposed to it, but it’s nothing I’m going to push for,” said State Rep. Galen Higdon, R-St. Joseph. “People are happy with the way things are.”Mr. Higdon said those who live, work and do business alongside the Muddy Mo want to rebuild and trust that the federal government will regulate and enact flood control.“It’s simple,” he said. “I’ve lived along the levees all my life.”But State Rep. Pat Conway, D-St. Joseph, said there may be other considerations.“I remember when the first casino in St. Joseph was docked,” Mr. Conway said. “It didn’t cruise more than a mile up the (Missouri) river and came back every two hours.”An evolving processThe original provision stated that casinos had to float the river. Just a few years later, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, insurance companies and others were pointing out the hazards and liabilities. Even the weather docked many riverboats. Eventually, casinos were given the option to be permanently docked.If the door were to open wider on riverboat gambling, other entities might have their own suggestions.“Service clubs, veterans clubs, truck stops and other places would be more than interested in moving into some provisions of gaming,” Mr. Conway said. “I’m not sure the (casino) operators want to open up that possibility to extend it to others.“I would imagine taking a vote to the people would certainly promote other organizations to get in on it. It would be a very interesting long-term discussion.”Currently, there are two main requirements for riverboat gambling: the casino floor has to float and has to be within 1,000 feet of the river.And as far as Craig Travers knows, that’s not changing.“They’re building the new casino in Cape Girardeau under the current regulations,” said the general manager of St. Jo Frontier Casino.Mr. Travers, like Mr. Higdon and Mr. Conway, doesn’t feel there is a push for new legislation following the recent flood. With the most recent legislation removing the loss limits and setting the number of gaming licenses, Missouri casino operators have few concerns. There are 13 licenses now, and it would take the Missouri Gaming Commission to add more — not an easy feat.Expensive to runAs far as other organizations competing with casinos, if the idea were to come up on the ballot, Mr. Travers said he doesn’t see it as something favorable to many people.“I don’t see them wanting to spend the money it would take to invest,” he said. “Slot machines are at least $25,000 apiece, and then you have to have the software and infrastructure. That’s really expensive. They wouldn’t be in the position to make that kind of an investment without knowing what kind of a return they would have.”There was some discussion in the city’s Downtown Building Blocks Strategic Plan to relocate the casino near a Downtown convention center.So if the casinos can’t move away from the river, the questions remain on how the casinos are doing in the months following the flood.Mr. Travers said more than 200 employees came back to work when the local casino reopened Sept. 29.“We are up to full force and only about 20 (employees) didn’t return,” he said. “That’s really positive. We’re really pleased that everyone came back.”Fixing the leveesThe flood closed the casino in June and caused about $3.5 million in physical damages. The St. Joseph casino is still working with its insurance carrier on another amount for business and employee interruption, which is far and above the physical damages.The casino is also in negotiations with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and other overseeing organizations to fix the levee. The city is in on these talks as well.“We’re in the process of formulating how we want to fix it and what the cost is going to be and the timetable,” Mr. Travers said. “Right now, we’re in the prime period of doing something like this because the river is down and the area is dry.”And while there is no push to change legislation to move the casinos inland, there is a strong push to prevent this sort of disaster from happening again.“I can assure you this, one way or another that levee will be fixed,” Mr. Travers said. “We sure as hell don’t want to be flooded again.”
Jennifer Hall can be reached at jennhall@newspressnow.com.
