Thursday, Feb. 12, 2004 | 10:47 a.m.
SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Station Casinos Inc.'s $38 million settlement of a Missouri lawsuit, which was reported Jan. 29 in the company's quarterly earnings statement, will result in a payment of $25 million to an unsuccessful casino applicant and another $2.83 million to a town where the applicant planned to establish the casino.
Station said Jan. 29 it took an after-tax charge of $24.7 million to account for the settlement.
The suit claimed Station used improper contacts between its lawyer and a Missouri Gaming Commission official to obtain its Missouri gaming license in 1997.
The suit was filed by Fitzgeralds Sugar Creek Inc., joined later by the city of Sugar Creek and Fitzeralds owner Philip D. Griffith. Fitzgeralds claimed in the suit that Station's conduct resulted in Fitzgeralds' failure to obtain a casino license.
Besides the payments to Griffith and the town, the rest of the money will go to attorneys. Sugar Creek Mayor Stan Salva told the Kansas City Star that the city would use the money -- which represents about 70 percent of its annual budget -- for road improvements.
Station admitted no wrongdoing, but pulled out of the Missouri market. It sold its Kansas City and St. Louis casinos to Ameristar Casinos Inc. of Las Vegas in 2000.
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