Cape City Council OKs Capri deal; gaming commission rejects casino application for Sugar Creek

After one of the Kansas City, Mo.-area casino competitors fell by the wayside earlier in the day, the Cape Girardeau City Council approved a development deal with Isle of Capri for its $125 million plan for a gaming facility downtown.

"This is a very significant step forward," Richard Meister, Isle of Capri's vice president of development, said after the meeting.

The development deal calls for a $2 million payment for the city-owned, 11-acre tract on the proposed casino site on North Main Street; a $150,000 one-time payment to compensate for city-incurred costs; and for the developer to pay 0.3 percent of its gross gaming revenue to a special fund that will be matched by the city for downtown improvement projects.

"This project will provide upwards of $3 million of tax revenue to our city annually," Mayor Harry Rediger said. "They're going to hire 450 people to run it. It could be a real plus for our community."

Earlier Tuesday, the Missouri Gaming Commission rejected the application of Sunway Gaming LLC, which wanted to locate a casino in the Kansas City suburb of Sugar Creek. That leaves four companies, including the one in Cape Girardeau, in contention for the one license available for the state.

"The commission deemed it incomplete, so the commission rejected it," commission spokeswoman LeAnn McCarthy said. "Staff goes through the application and verifies everything that is required, and the application was not complete."

The commission accepted the four remaining applications, which include Casino Celebration LLC, which is proposing a facility for St. Louis; North County Development LLC, which wants to put a casino in the St. Louis suburb of Spanish Lake; and Epic Gaming LLC, which also wants to place a casino in Sugar Creek.

The commission also announced a tentative schedule for a public hearing in Cape Girardeau for Sept. 27. Hearings will be Sept. 28 in St. Louis and Sept. 29 in Kansas City. Times and locations will be provided as soon as they become available, McCarthy said, though Rediger said the one here will be at the River Campus.

Those promoting the casino said the removal of one applicant was not as significant as one might think.

"It's one less company vying for the application," Meister said. "But it's still the same communities, basically St. Louis and Kansas City's markets. If one of the markets had been eliminated, it would have been more significant."

Cape Girardeau voters will decide Nov. 2 whether or not a proposal for a casino moves forward. If so, the gaming commission is expected to announce who gets the final license by the end of the year.

smoyers@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address:

401 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, MO