The state is in peril if lawmakers reject casino, Foster warns

Friday, Feb. 20, 1998 | 8:57 a.m.

Foster said a group "of my own friends" are in a combine with riverboat and video poker gambling forces to defeat the contract in the special session next month.

If the contract is rejected, the video poker and riverboat industries may not be rejoicing for long, Foster said during a speech to the Industrial Contractors Council.

Gambling interests want to keep a monopoly in the New Orleans area, he charged. If they win the fight to kill the casino, Foster said he will support bills that will be filed this year to repeal all gambling.

"Maybe we ought to do that (repeal it all)," he said to The Associated Press just prior to his speech.

The Legislature, he reminded the contractors, approved creation of the casino and then "legalized it a second time" by approving local option for gambling. The voters in New Orleans then approved the casino project.

"I don't have anything in this fight," said Foster. "I don't care if the casino closes three months after it opens. We still get our $100 million.

"What I've told everybody is that this is not a gambling issue. This is an issue of the state keeping its word with the law that is on the books."

If a tough contract favorable to the state is rejected, the casino operators will have all the ammunition they need in a lawsuit, the governor said.

With bondholders standing to lose $400 million and creditors another $50 million or more, the state will be liable "and I think they will win in court," said Foster.

Later, he told reporters that he decided to get tough on the issue because the opposition to ratification is building.

"The word I'm getting from legislators is 'I wish I didn't have to make a vote.' Well, the Legislature passed the law approving the casino. The Legislature voted then.

"But everybody is scared to death of it. If they don't vote for it, they're putting this state in great peril."

The casino's owner, Harrah's Jazz Co., is currently in federal bankruptcy court protection. Legislative approval of the contract is considered the last step to the company emerging from bankruptcy and completing the $850 million project.