GAMING COMPANIES PITCH PROPOSALS

A "realistic" project that will benefit downtown was pitted Monday against a "riverboat gaming resort" that will enrich a blighted area as the Cape Girardeau City Council heard from two firms vying for the city's riverboat gambling market.

Representatives from Boyd Gaming Corp. and Lady Luck Gaming Corp. had their first opportunity to pitch their proposals to the city council at Monday's study session, held before a council chambers packed with about 125 people.

By virtue of a coin toss, Boyd representatives made their presentation first, as officials touted the company's financial strength and reputation in Las Vegas where the Boyd Group operates six casinos.

Bill Boyd, chief executive officer for the company, said Boyd Gaming's downtown gaming facility is a far better site than Lady Luck's proposed 100 acre development south of the downtown district.

But Lady Luck officials said their development, which would include a 200-room hotel, marina, golf course, museum and other attractions would offer amenities unavailable with the Boyd project.

Alain Uboldi, president of Lady Luck Corp., said a riverboat casino with only a restaurant will do little to entice boat patrons to visit shops and restaurants in downtown Cape.

"We're trying to build a multi-purpose complex," said Uboldi. "We have studied the Alton (Ill.) boat, which is in the middle of downtown, and downtown business has actually declined.

"Why? Because you need to combine everything to make a full, complete project. Just a boat won't help the downtown."

The $58 million Lady Luck proposal south of the Mississippi River bridge would draw overnight visitors to the downtown area, said Lawrence Tombari, vice president of development for the gaming corporation.

"You've got to give people a reason to come downtown other than a riverboat," said Tombari. "Casino gaming will not do it by itself.

"You need to get people overnight. I think with (Boyd's proposal), they'll drive in, they'll gamble, and they'll split."

Lady Luck plans to use a trolley system to link customers to the various elements of the land-based development and with the downtown.

Boyd Gaming chief operating officer Robert Boughner conceded there are advantages to such a system. But he said the market first has to support the hotel.

He said hotel occupancy rates in Cape Girardeau don't justify an additional hotel to compete with existing facilities. Boughner said the Boyds would be happy to add a hotel later if it's justified.

He said the Boyd site at the corner of Broadway and Main has many advantages over Lady Luck's site.

"Our site is safer, closer, drier, it's doable and buildable," Boughner said. "It is our desire to come to Cape to complement existing businesses, not to compete with them."

Boyd officials and audience members questioned whether Lady Luck's proposal is feasible, citing silting problems that are likely at the marina, the amount of fill required to build the hotel out of the floodway, and the type of soil that's in the area.

But Barry Thalden of Thalden Corp., a St. Louis developer, said his company is working on more riverboat casino projects than anyone else in the Unitest States.

"We have encountered numerous problems such as these that have been overcome," Thalden said.

Boyd stressed his company's financial strength. He said that once Boyd Group properties in emerging gambling markets in Mississippi, Louisiana and Missouri are developed, the corporation will be the fourth largest gaming company in the United States based on total casino space, slot machines, table games, hotel rooms, and restaurants.

Boughner said the 1,650-passenger riverboat earmarked for Cape Girardeau is already under construction and will be ready for delivery in October.

Maunty Collins, director of operations for Boyd Gaming, said the boat will provide 1,300 new jobs in Cape Girardeau, and revenue for the city totalling $3 million annually.

"We've also proposed to complete a traffic study," Collins said. "Whatever that study says needs to be done as related to our project, directly or indirectly, we're going to do it."

But Don Phares, an economics professor at St. Louis University, said the Lady Luck proposal would bring 2,040 new jobs to the city and more than $3 million in city revenue.

Paul O'Malley, an alderman at Natchez, Miss., where Lady Luck operates one of its three riverboats in Mississippi, said the company provided that city with more than 500 new jobs and a boost for the local economy.

He cited donations the company has made to provide new bullet-proof vests and two trained police dogs for the Natchez Police Department.

"I'm very proud of what Lady Luck's done," O'Malley said. "I'm here for one purpose: out of gratitude for what Lady Luck's done in our community."

He said Lady Luck has done everything it proposed to do, "and more."

Andrew Tompkins, chief executive officer of Lady Luck, told the council his Las Vegas casino was started in 1964 in "a dreary place with 17 slot machines." It has since grown to an 800-room hotel/resort -- one of the largest in downtown Las Vegas.

"I think tenacity could be Lady Luck's motto," Tompkins said, referring to skeptics' doubt about the Lady Luck proposal.

He said the company's track record of building casinos -- four last year in Mississippi and Colorado -- on-time and on-budget speaks for itself.

"These are problems we've encountered before, and it's not a problem," Tompkins said. "We're committed to this project if you give us the opportunity to do it."