Boyd Gaming Corp. consultant Dan Davis wasn't fooling when he said April 1, 1995, is the target date for opening a casino in Cape Girardeau.

"April 1 is what we're hoping for, but it could be a week before or after, depending on how everything goes," said Davis, who was in Cape Girardeau Wednesday to help coordinate a petition drive for the 8th Congressional District. The petition will seek 20,000 signatures from this district to help secure a gambling amendment on the Nov. 8 state ballot.

Davis said he believes the 8th District has given Boyd too much support to be left off of the statewide list. The 8th District will be added to six other districts throughout the state where petitions are being sought.

"We have so many good friends in this district and it's such an important part of the state, we felt like we needed to get it involved with the petition process," said Davis. "In just two days the support we've been seeing is just phenomenal. I think we can get as many as 30,000 signatures from this district."

While Evelyn Boardman, a Boyd representative, teams up with Beth Scherer to embark on the campaign in the 8th District, Davis will continue working toward the April 1 target date.

Boyd Gaming plans to begin construction here in either July or August. "We're planning on doing the groundbreaking in August, but it could be even sooner depending on how quickly we can get things done," he said. "We've got to get some legal things worked out and then there's the investigative process by the state gaming commission, which we think will help us when we are up for review the second time around."

Boyd was one of three casino operations picked to go under the scrutiny of the state gaming commission. Boyd Gaming Corp. in Kansas City North, and Harrah's Casino North Kansas City were chosen for the second round of licensing investigation along with Aztar's riverboat project in Caruthersville.

"Once we pass inspection the first time around, it will be pretty much routine the next time the state commission looks at us," said Davis.

Davis was here last weekend to get an idea what Riverfest is all about. "I was impressed with the number of people Riverfest attracts," said Davis. "I think that would work well just where it's at for the city and could help our operation out a great deal. We should be able to work something out as far as traffic goes that would work for both the city and Boyd."

Boyd is already reviewing "hundreds and hundreds" of applications for its Cape Girardeau operation. The riverboat will have a crew of approximately 275 people per shift providing for a total passenger capacity of 1,925. The boat is anticipated to have a total passenger area of 50,800 square feet and provide a 1,650 patron capacity with approximately 1,130 gaming positions.

The proposed riverboat casino and entertainment complex will be along Main Street north of Broadway.

The casino complex will be comprised of five main components :

-- A riverboat casino, which will be an authentic reproduction of a river paddlewheel boat with three passenger decks.

-- A terminal building on Main Street north of Broadway. This will provide the main entrance to the casino complex and include a 250-seat buffet restaurant with fill kitchen, a 225-seat entertainment lounge including a bandstand, dance floor and bar. There will also be a 7,500-square-foot staging and waiting area with a gift shop, ticket sales, office, snack bar and other amenities.

-- Parking facilities, including parking garage and surface parking. A parking garage will be attached to the terminal building and will contain five levels. The first phase parking structure will provide parking for 370 cars. Future plans call for an additional parking garage to be constructed immediately north of the terminal building and will provide 350 additional spaces.

-- A pedestrian bridge and docking barge.

-- The Buckner-Ragsdale building, which will be used for administrative space for the casino.