Crowds hit newest Missouri casino boat

Scott Charton

Friday, Dec. 7, 2001 | 9:46 a.m.

BOONVILLE, Mo. -- Tim and Pat Parish set gambling budgets of $100 each, piled into their van and rolled up Interstate 70 to Thursday's debut of casino gambling in central Missouri.

Along the interstate, the Parishes passed billboards promoting Isle of Capri's Boonville casino as "Another Route to Paradise," and declaring the Columbia couple to be mere "Minutes Away From WINNING!"

They were among the first paying customers entering Isle of Capri's gambling barge, a 72,000-square-foot casino shimmering with neon, pastel hues and the blinking lights of 900 slot machines and 28 table games.

Hours earlier, the Missouri Gaming Commission signed off on Isle of Capri's license to open the first casino between the St. Louis and Kansas City metropolitan areas, and the state's 11th floating gambling complex.

"It's just 20 miles from home, so it's great. I guess I'll come once a week -- as long as my money lasts," said Tim Parish, 67, a disabled veteran who uses a wheelchair and receives two federal pension checks each month.

Pat Parish, 60, who is retired, said the couple also reaps returns on investments, so casino visits with budgeted bankrolls won't endanger their pocketbooks.

"To us, it is great entertainment, and now it's close to home," she said.

The Parishes live in Isle of Capri's target market, a 50-mile circle around Boonville, with larger cities including Columbia, Jefferson City and Sedalia.

That region has at least 320,000 residents. Isle of Capri projects hosting 1.5 million visitors a year at Boonville.

"With the population base and essentially no other competition, the formula is there for success," Jeff King, vice president and general manager of the Boonville casino, said.

The mayor and city leaders helped open the casino, but not all residents support it. Lucy Farrell, 78, said she voted against allowing a local casino, "and I doubt I'll live long enough to see any good come of it here in Boonville."

Still, debut day for the casino saw hundreds of customers lining up outside. The Isle of Capri's gambling floor reached its capacity of about 1,500 gamblers an hour after the 2 p.m. opening.

Ervin Harvey, 87, rode up from Warsaw with his neighbor Kenny Evans, 61. Harvey then sat down in a chair at the head of the long admission line, becoming an interview subject several times over.

When the casino opened, Harvey found a 25-cent slot machine to his liking, fed it $20 and started its spinning wheels. Three times he pushed the buttons and three times he lost. On the fourth spin, he won $5. Later he smiled and confided, "I'm ahead for the day."

Missouri law limits losses over a two-hour period to $500 per gambler -- a cap the industry has been unable to persuade state lawmakers to remove.

Like other Missouri "riverboat" casinos, Isle of Capri doesn't cruise; it is a barge in a man-made moat some 50 yards (and across a railroad track) from the Missouri River.

The casino is decorated outside with two fake black smokestacks and swollen sides suggesting paddlewheels. Inside, the casino has "Isle Style," the gambling chain's trademarked Caribbean-theme decor. Visitors wore necklaces of plastic flowers and the symbolic ribbon cut by oversized scissors was in shades of hot pink, turquoise, peach and yellow.

The Gaming Commission issued gambling and liquor licenses for Isle of Capri after a test gambling session on Wednesday attended by state regulators and several hundred invited guests.

"I can say with all confidence for the people of Missouri that the Isle of Capri has been given the most thorough review possible," Kevin Mullally, the commission's executive director, said Thursday.