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Study to examine Mo. gamblers casino fervor
By Joe Whittington
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
07/31/2007
Joe Whittington
Business columnist Joe Whittington
(Post-Dispatch)
The state of Missouri has checked its bet on more gambling spots until a study is completed by University of Missouri-St. Louis professors Greg Aubuchon and Don Kridel.
Gaming Commission Director Gene McNary says there are other players who want to get into the game, and the hottest spot appears to be around the Chain of Rocks Bridge — at one site in the city and one in St. Louis County.
"We have had inquiries on the Chain of Rocks area and one around Sugar Creek, which is east of Independence," said McNary.
"We (the commission) had a meeting with Wild Rose (an Iowa gambling company) for Sugar Creek, and the city made a presentation, and the city and casino are together on it."
McNary described the Chain of Rocks efforts being spearheaded by "a group of local businessmen" and one by a "conglomerate of investors."
Aubuchon was playing his cards close to the vest on the study, and keeping words to a minimum. "We're just starting, just at the beginning," he said.
"We were looking for a casino near the Chain of Rocks about two or three years ago, and the commission didn't want to do it then," said St. Louis Deputy Mayor Barb Geisman. "The advantage of the Chain of Rocks area is that it would be an opportunity comparable to what is going on in Alton. There's a market up there, and we're not capturing our share of that market."
"We want to know the lay of the land and be prepared when an application comes in," McNary said of the study. "They'll get some numbers, some indication about what the market demand is and where new casinos could be located."
SADDLING UP: McNary hopes to get the horse racing picture in Missouri at least up to a trot. The Missouri Horse Racing Commission hasn't had new appointments in years, and McNary has asked for it to be restocked.
Missouri law allows pari-mutuel horse betting, but the state has no tracks. And to simulcast other races, there must be racing at the track that day.
The committee members of record are Betty Weldon of Jefferson City, who is deceased; Kansas City area veterinarian Waybern Yates, who is retired and in poor health and whose term ran through March 15, 1996; 92-year-old Jewett Fulkerson of Liberty whose term was to run through March 15, 1994; Wentzville auto dealer Robert Cox, whose term was to run through March 15, 1998, and Malden real estate agent Dick Goodnight, slated to go through March 15, 1997.
"In other states where they have it, it's giving way to casinos because the money is in slot machines," said McNary.
"I frankly am not ready to give up on horse racing. Whether it takes on the magnitude of the casinos, I doubt that."
One commissioner says Missouri foolishly turned down great offers in 2001 and 2002 when he says the Senate and then the House turned down Charlie Cella.
"The Cella family, a local family that has owned Oaklawn Racetrack in Hot Springs, Ark., since 1948, had 800 acres in Wentzville on option, and $50 million of its own money to build a track, and it was turned down," the commissioner said.
"This could have been a billion-dollar industry, and all they wanted were simulcast spots.
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