Mississippi governor vows not to raise casino taxes

Lynda Edwards

Friday, May 7, 2004 | 11:03 a.m.

BILOXI, Miss. -- Gov. Haley Barbour said he doesn't want gambling in Mississippi to expand beyond the counties where it is already legal -- primarily the Gulf Coast and along the Mississippi River.

Yet the tone of Barbour's message to Wednesday's session of the Southern Gaming Summit in Biloxi was so warm, it dazzled the chief executive of the Las Vegas company that owns the Beau Rivage Resort in Biloxi.

"The governor's speech makes me wonder if we should move to Mississippi," MGM MIRAGE Chief Executive Terry Lanni said.

About 5,000 people and vendors attended the conference, which ran through Thursday. Barbour and Lanni were the opening speakers.

State regulated casinos operate along the Mississippi River and on the coast. The Mississippi Band of Choctaws' casinos in Neshoba County are not regulated by the state.

Barbour said the state was in a budget crisis but vowed not to raise casino taxes.

"To pay our bills, we have diverted every penny that was supposed to go into a rainy day fund and diverted money needed to repair our highways," he said.

Barbour said spending cuts, not higher taxes, are the solution.

The governor's remarks came as lawmakers in Jackson struggled to reach agreement on a new budget. There is a possibility the 2004 session, scheduled to end this weekend, will be extended.

He acknowledged the tourist dollars that gambling brings to Mississippi but slammed proposals for a state lottery.

"If your goal is to soak the poor, a lottery is a great way to do it," Barbour said.

As a former lobbyist and Republican party power broker on Capitol Hill, Barbour recalled how "I used to watch former Washington, D.C., Mayor Sharon Pratt Dixon make commercials telling people to buy lottery tickets. I'm not comfortable with that."

Lanni applauded Mississippi's "very reasonable tax rate of 12 percent" on the gaming industry. He also said he would be reviewing the Beau Rivage's $40 million wish list of amenities, which included a golf course.

Lanni then criticized the Illinois approach to gaming licensure as opposed to Mississippi.

Lanni said when a casino license was available in Illinois a few months ago, "we didn't even bid on it."

The license in Rosemont near Chicago became the subject of debate after Mississippi-based Isle of Capri won the bid.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has demanded the local gaming board explain its decision to go against the recommendation of its own staff in choosing Isle of Capri. Madigan has suggested that Rosemont was a bad location for a casino because the town and its mayor might have ties to organized crime.

Lanni said Illinois politicians were "too unpredictable" and recently had more than doubled gaming industry taxes.