Warren County man wants regulators to investigate two Vicksburg casinos

Tuesday, June 13, 2000 | 10:34 a.m.

The petition, filed by Jackson attorney Bill Spell for E.L. Pennebaker Jr., says if the commission doesn't place conditions on the gaming licenses of Ameristar Casino and Harrah's Vicksburg, the industry could be "dominated by a very few casinos through the use of powerful political and financial influences."

Gaming Commission spokeswoman Ashley Skellie said the petition has been forwarded to the legal department.

"We're taking it under review," she said.

Pennebaker and casino developer Jim Belisle said Ameristar, Harrah's and Deposit Guaranty National Bank (now AmSouth Bank) unlawfully prevented competition by influencing the Gaming Commission to deny a site location for a proposed $150 million casino and auto race track on the Big Black River in Warren County.

Pennebaker won the court case and was awarded $1 million from a Pike County jury. The verdict is being appealed.

Ameristar spokesman Jeff Terp said he couldn't comment on the petition but stands by the casino's First Amendment right to oppose the site.yers to get a share of the profits from the sale of the one-time Bell Laboratories research facility, the state's highest court ruled Tuesday.

The 7-0 ruling by the Court of Appeals overturned a lower court decision and could clear the way for ratepayers of the former New York Telephone Co. - since absorbed by Bell Atlantic - to get rebates worth about $2.44 each.

The dispute dated back to the 1984 breakup of AT&T, when each of the seven "baby Bells" created by that divestiture received equal shares of Bell Communication