Ameristar Casinos’ Missouri chief out

Monday, Feb. 25, 2002 | 11:07 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The president of Ameristar Casinos Inc.'s operations in Missouri no longer serves in that position and the company's top executive in Iowa has resigned, the company announced.

The Las Vegas-based company did not say Friday whether John V. Finamore had resigned or was fired. Nor did it say when his service as president ended or if he remains with the company in another capacity.

"Finamore is no longer employed as president of Missouri operations," the company's statement said.

Neither Finamore nor company officials would comment to the Kansas City Star Friday.

Tony Taeubel, general manager at Ameristar's riverboat casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa, has resigned, effective March 7, Ameristar said.

Taeubel told the Star he has accepted a position with the Choctaw Indian-owned Silver Star Resort & Casino in Philadelphia, Miss., one of the nation's largest tribal casinos.

Finamore joined Station Casinos Inc. in 1994 and joined Ameristar when it bought Station's Missouri properties in December 2000.

Taeubel, a former official with the Nevada Gaming Control Board, was with Ameristar for seven years, the last two-and-a-half as general manager in Iowa.

Meanwhile, Ameristar has become embroiled in a public fight with the Culinary Union over a recent secondary stock offering.

In a Feb. 11 letter to the Missouri Gaming Commission, the union complained that analysts at two Wall Street brokerage firms -- Merrill Lynch and CIBC World Markets -- issued bullish research notes on Ameristar while a 6.9 million-share offering of stock was being made to the public. Both Merrill Lynch and CIBC were underwriters in the offering; Merrill Lynch initiated coverage at a "strong buy," while CIBC reiterated its strong buy rating.

Courtney Alexander, research area coordinator-gaming for the international union, said the research notes helped boost Ameristar's stock price during the offering. Two million shares sold during the offering were sold by Ameristar Chairman Craig Neilsen.

"These facts suggest the possibility of conflicts of interest on the part of Merrill Lynch and CIBC World Markets, and we believe they raise concerns about the reputation of gaming in the public financial markets," Alexander wrote. "We believe as this information becomes more widely known, it may undermine the integrity of gaming companies in the public markets."

Alexander said the union is currently not attempting to organize either of Ameristar's Missouri properties, but said "we do take issue with the tremendously low wages they pay casino workers in Missouri."

Ameristar officials could not be reached for comment.

In their research notes, Merrill Lynch and CIBC disclosed they had or may have had business relationships with Ameristar. CIBC said that in the last three years it had managed or co-managed securities offerings for Ameristar.