SC, LADY LUCK OK CONTRACT

After ironing out last-minute details in closed session, the Scott City Council Monday unanimously approved a $63 million riverboat gambling contract with Lady Luck Gaming Corp.

Prior to the council's action, it was presented with a copy of an agreement signed by Andy Tompkins, chief executive officer of Lady Luck. The copy was faxed to the Scott City police station from Las Vegas.

The contract will be express-mailed to Las Vegas today and returned to be signed by city officials this week.

Although the contract sets forth a three-year time commitment on behalf of Lady Luck, the city's and the company's expectations of one another, and penalties for noncompliance, it doesn't specify the site the Las Vegas, Nev.,-based company will develop.

"We expect that the site location will be finalized in the next three to four working days," said Gary Heisel, project coordinator of the Scott City development for Lady Luck. "It could take as long as two weeks."

The primary site Lady Luck is focusing on is just east of the Rhodes Travel Center on Nash Road north of Scott City. The boat would float the waters of the Diversion Channel en route to the Mississippi River.

Lady Luck has also mentioned possible sites at the head of the Diversion Channel, at the end of Route N and -- as a final choice -- the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority.

"Because we are a land-locked city, the legalities behind a site location have been difficult," said Ward 2 Councilman John Rogers, who serves as chairman of the city's gambling committee. "Taking that into consideration, we're giving the company a few more days to iron out the details.

"But the port is the last site on the list due to controversies we don't even want to mention," said Rogers.

Heisel said that Lady Luck intends to name a primary site and an alternative when submitting the proposal with its license application to the Missouri Gaming Commission.

"You just never know what the U.S. Corps of Engineers or the Environmental Protection Agency will do," he said. "That's why we have to be prepared for whatever they throw our way."

Earlier, an official with the gaming commission said that boats would not be allowed to float in tributaries of the Mississippi River, such as is the Diversion Channel. Lady Luck is seeking a declaratory judgment on the matter.

The contract is largely contingent on the outcome of a November election, where voters will once again decide if the state constitution should be amended to include games of chance. In April the amendment was defeated by a narrow margin.

"We just didn't feel we could hold Lady Luck to something they have no control over," said Rogers. "If games of chance are approved, then the company will be in a lot better position to honor some aspects of the contract. If not, then we have something to fall back on."

Time restrictions within the contract do not begin until the date Lady Luck receives a state riverboat gambling license. If Lady Luck breaks the agreement with Scott City within the next three years, it could cost the company as much as $500,000.

But Lady Luck's immediate goal is to submit a copy of the contract to the gaming commission, along with its application for a gaming license. Within two to three weeks the company should begin setting time goals for the start of construction, the project's completion and an opening date.

"It's just too early to say anything concrete," Heisel said. "We have to have some time to have some studies done in the area and then to sit down and put our heads together."