Missouri regulators give OK to open boarding test

Paul Sloca

Thursday, July 29, 1999 | 11:03 a.m.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Gamblers in eastern Missouri could soon be playing aboard riverboat casinos for as long as they want thanks to an open boarding pilot project approved by the Missouri Gaming Commission.

By a unanimous 4-0 vote Wednesday, the commission opened the door for casinos in eastern Missouri to present plans on how best to implement open boarding without impacting the integrity of the $500-dollar-per-cruise loss limit and the collection of admission fees that generate revenue for state and local governments.

Current rules allow gamblers to board for the first 45 minutes of each two-hour "cruise." Once a gambler leaves the casino floor, he or she may not re-enter during that two-hour session.

The casinos' plans could be approved in the next few weeks and open boarding could begin later this summer.

There are currently five companies operating eight casinos in the St. Louis area and the Missouri Bootheel, and removing the boarding restrictions, even temporarily, would allow those boats to compete with casinos in Illinois, which have no boarding restrictions.

While commissioners agreed that the eastern Missouri pilot project would act as a good "test case," for open boarding, there were concerns about whether the loss limits were already being enforced.

Just minutes before the approval of the pilot project, the commission voted unanimously to recommend $10,000 penalties each to six casinos, three from eastern Missouri, which had violated loss limit restrictions.

Tony Horvath, an attorney from the Gaming Commission, told the panel that about 30 employees at the casinos allowed people to exceed loss limits and failed to note transactions electronically.

Commissioner L.G. Ullery raised concerns that if riverboats were unable to enforce the loss limits now, they could have even more problems if open boarding were allowed.

"They must enforce the $500 loss limit. If they don't, I won't vote for open boarding," Ullery said.

The three eastern casino companies cited were St. Charles Riverfront Station, the Missouri Gaming Company, and Harrah's Maryland Heights Corp. Others were Kansas City Station Corp., Hilton Kansas City Corp., and Harrah's North Kansas City Corp.

Julian Seeherman, chairman of the gaming commission, who likened the loss limit violations to "stealing," said after the hearing that open boarding and loss limit enforcement were not related.

"Boarding has nothing to do with that. That's a lack of standards," Seeherman said. "Our job is making sure that the admissions that are given to the state are protected and making sure there are no other violations of the $500 loss limit."

Mel Fisher, executive director of the commission, said the violations show there is a need for increased enforcement of loss limits.

"We're certainly going to step up our enforcement efforts to make sure that what occurred recently does not occur again, whether or not we have open boarding," Fisher said.

Steve Taylor, executive director of Casino Watch, an anti-gambling group, said the commission's decision could lead to an end to a loss limit and the beginning of land-based gambling in Missouri.

"It seems hard, hard not to come to the conclusion that the commission is really just acting on behalf of the casinos when they are not living up to the rules and procedures that are already in place," said Taylor, noting that casinos oppose loss limits which were created in 1992 when voters approved riverboat gambling.

Fisher said there is no requirement that a casino participate in the project and that the commission can terminate the pilot project at any time.

Seeherman said that allowing the casinos to attempt different approaches to open boarding "gives the commission the ability to test the different scenarios to make sure we have the right one."

Jim Deutsch, an attorney for Players Island casino in Maryland Heights, said he expects the casinos to "lunge" at the opportunity to show that loss limits and tax revenues can be protected with open boarding.

"I'm pleased they want to move ahead with it," Deutsch said.