Mississippi schools want chance to get casino classes

Monday, Aug. 21, 2000 | 3:55 a.m.

For the past three years, the bills have passed the House but died in the Senate.

Mississippi's nearly $3 billion a year gaming industry employs 40,000 people.

"Gaming wants to train employees to be upwardly mobile," said Rep. Diane Peranich, D-Pass Christian. "That is the American way."

Peranich wants colleges and universities to teach gaming-related classes in any county where casinos operate.

Mississippi is home to 30 casinos that stretch from Tunica County to river ports Vicksburg and Natchez and south to Biloxi, Gulfport and Bay St. Louis.

Casinos provide jobs and deliver tax dollars that help schools, colleges and a host of agencies, Peranich said.

"It is a sad day that people are afraid of it," she said. "We must take the risk."

Sen. Richard White, R-Terry, opposes the legislation.

"People who think that gambling is the answer to our woes are wrong," White said. "This is not the way to raise our children in Mississippi."

The bills have met stiff opposition from the Mississippi Baptist Convention.

"They will oppose it forever. It is a sin," White said.

Alcorn State already offers some hospitality courses that could be modified to meet the casino industry's needs, said college president Clinton Bristow Jr. He said such courses could be taught at Alcorn branches in Natchez and Vicksburg.

University of Southern Mississippi President Horace Fleming Jr. said his school could offer gaming-related classes at its campuses on the Gulf Coast.

"This is an industry we depend on heavily," he said. "The points are well made. The industry is here. We are doing a lot now for the hospitality industry."

Andy Bourland, executive director of the Mississippi Gaming Association that represents 27 of the 31 casinos in the state, is pleased legislators will give it another shot in 2001.

"We think it would be an important element of promoting Mississippi," Bourland said. "We are not talking about how to teach people to play blackjack."

Bourland said the casino-related courses would run the gamut from purchasing to security to management to slot machine maintenance.

Schools such as the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the University of New Orleans and University of Houston can legally come in and teach such classes in Mississippi.

Some casinos will send their employees to UNLV, he said. The Las Vegas-based school has also discussed plans to teach workshops in Mississippi.

Leaders at two-year schools say their institutions, such as Hinds Community College that has a Vicksburg branch, Clarksdale-based Coahoma Community College and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College are well-positioned to teach gaming courses.

Sen. Terry Burton, D-Newton, chairman of the Senate Universities and Colleges Committee, said with the ban now on college casino courses, "we are missing out on a big opportunity."

But getting the bill passed will be a long shot, Burton said.

"There is a huge lobby out there that misunderstands what we are trying to do," he said.