Missouri Gaming Commission seeks probe to restore confidence in casino selection

Thursday, Aug. 3, 2000 | 9:43 a.m.

Executive Director Mel Fisher wants the U.S. attorney in St. Louis and Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon to look into the selection of the Isle of Capri company. The request comes after Kimmswick Mayor Brian Selsor and leaders of Lemay On the Move, a group pushing for a casino in Lemay, demanded an investigation.

"These individuals have challenged the integrity of the commission and its staff," Fisher said in a letter to the prosecutors. "The commission believes these allegations to be baseless and without merit."

Fisher said, however, that an independent investigation was needed "in order for the public to have complete confidence in the integrity of the regulation of legalized gambling and the licensing process."

Terri Dougherty, assistant to U.S. Attorney Audrey Fleissig, said Wednesday that the complaint needed to be taken to the FBI. State Attorney General Jay Nixon said he would work with the U.S. attorney.

On July 26, the commission selected the Isle of Capri casino company to build a $100 million gambling complex in Jefferson County just north of Kimmswick. The commission said it turned down the Lemay proposal by Ameristar Casino, along with two others, because it feared the competition would close the struggling President Casino on the Admiral in St. Louis.

Lori Hutzler, spokeswoman for Isle of Capri, which has its main offices in Biloxi, Miss., said the firm did not get preferential treatment.

"We have had the right fit for the right project," Hutzler said.

Kimmswick's Mayor Selsor joined Lemay On the Move co-chairman Bob Burns on Wednesday morning in front of the Ameristar casino headquarters in Lemay to renew their demand for an investigation.

Selsor and Burns allege collusion between the commission and Isle of Capri owners. Burns pointed out that Isle of Capri has gotten approval for three casinos since April.

Both say they believe that the President casino on the Admiral worked with the Isle of Capri company to get the commission's preliminary approval of the casino near Kimmswick. Isle of Capri was buying another of the President company's casinos in Davenport, Iowa, at the same time that President officials here were asking officials such as St. Louis Mayor Clarence Harmon to oppose the Ameristar site.

The President company's chief officer, Jim Zweifel, told the Gaming Commission that President Casino on St. Louis' riverfront downtown would close if the Ameristar casino opened just south of the city limits. But the President company did not oppose a proposal for a new casino in north St. Louis or the two Isle of Capri proposals, one to be near the Jefferson Barracks Bridge and the other near Kimmswick.

Selsor said that the Lemay area is in need of commercial development, while Kimmswick and Jefferson County have a fast-growing economy. That furthered his suspicion of the commission, he said. The state statute that set up gambling calls for placing casinos in financially distressed areas like Lemay, he said.