Isle of Capri's Cape Girardeau casino still cruising toward Nov. 1 opening

With just two months until its scheduled opening, construction is progressing and employees are starting work at Isle of Capri's Cape Girardeau casino.

Isle of Capri invested nearly $28 million in Cape Girardeau in the past three months as construction nears completion on its $135 million casino.

The company released its fiscal year 2013 first-quarter earnings Wednesday, which also revealed it spent $700,000 during this period on nonconstruction expenses related to the Cape Girardeau casino's opening. Isle's president and CEO Virginia McDowell said the project is still two months ahead of its original schedule.

"We're on target to open our flagship Isle property by Nov. 1 and are beginning the process of installing slot machines on the casino floor," McDowell said during a conference call with financial analysts Wednesday. "Isle Cape Girardeau will be both an impressive and important addition both to our portfolio and the city of Cape Girardeau."

Ninety casino staff positions are already filled, Isle spokeswoman Jill Alexander said. Those employees will begin training off-site next week, she said.

Isle received more than 7,000 resumes for the approximately 450 positions it is working to fill before it opens.

More than 50 different positions, ranging from management to dealers and groundskeepers to restaurant servers, are advertised as available on the company's website.

About 60 people were selected to participate in a dealer school where they are learning table games such as blackjack, craps and roulette. After completing the unpaid training, those individuals will have the opportunity to audition to become dealers at Isle Cape Girardeau.

A second new dealer school class will begin in early September as well as a class for dealers with previous experience.

When it opens, Isle Cape Girardeau will have 28 table games in addition to 1,000 slot machines, three restaurants, a skydeck lounge overlooking the river and a 750-seat event center.

Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce president John Mehner said the number of resumes Isle has received indicates it is viewed as a place a lot of people would like to work.

"We knew they would be a substantial employer immediately. The second thing we hoped was that once they went down this road that it would generate additional interest from outside the community. That is happening," Mehner said.

The chamber has been contacted by businesses in several sectors who are now interested in investing in Cape Girardeau including housing, retail and service-related entities, Mehner said.

Isle reported first-quarter earnings of 17 cents per share, up from a loss of 6 cents per share for the same period last year. The company's first quarter begins at the end of April.

Net revenue for the three-month period ended July 29 was $236 million, up nearly 4 percent from $228 million in revenue during the first quarter of 2011. Many of its properties experienced losses during the first quarter of last year due to flooding.

McDowell said the company and the casino industry as a whole has been affected by a general weakening in consumer behavior in the first quarter.

"We have seen a pull back, just like the rest of the group has, since the end of the first calendar quarter," said Dale Black, chief financial officer.

Isle's first-quarter revenue was also influenced by road construction near its Colorado casino properties and by changes in the competitive environment of other locations, McDowell said.

Isle operates 15 casino properties in six states.

mmiller@semisourian.com

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