Gaming briefs for May 9, 2005

Monday, May 9, 2005 | 9:27 a.m.

No more than five casino licenses to be awarded

With the decision made about how many new casino licenses will be approved, the state's gambling commissioners now must narrow their choices and decide which of 10 applicants will get a license needed to build a new casino.

A majority of the commissioners decided last week to approve as many as five new licenses. They'll make their final choices Wednesday.

"The things I'll look at will be economic viability, utilization of Iowa resources, gaming integrity, economic development and tourism, employment opportunities and revenue sharing with the nonprofit," said commissioner Kate Cutler, of Council Bluffs.

She was willing to grant as many as six new licenses, but three other members set their top limit at five.

Ho-Chunk plans changes

The Ho-Chunk Nation is making major financial changes after a Milwaukee accounting firm told the American Indian tribe that it was facing bankruptcy.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Sunday that the tribe hired Virchow, Krause & Co. to look at its books. In October the firm told the tribe it must make sweeping changes.

"The consequence of not making immediate and sweeping system changes is certain financial ruin," the 20-page report states. "The Nation has worked too hard and has too much of its culture and people's future at stake to allow this to happen."

Ho-Chunk runs one of the most profitable Indian casino operations in the nation, with its popular Wisconsin Dells casino and other facilities bringing in more than $100 million in profit a year.

In response to the review, which was given to a small circle of tribal officials, the tribe last month cut a per-capita payment to all band members to about $2,300 per quarter, down from $3,250.

Boomtown's plan upheld

Boomtown Casino can legally move from leased property on Biloxi's Back Bay to land it owns nearby, a federal appeals court has ruled.

However, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a Mississippi judge to clarify what the casino must pay in rent to continue using a parking lot owned by the man who also owns the casino's current site.

In 2002 Boomtown announced it would move its gaming barge about 300 feet west of its current location, owned by Raphael Skrmetta, saving about $4 million a year in its revenue-based lease payments.

Senator says locals should

decide about bingo parlor

Sen. Brad Hutto says if lawmakers let coastal counties decide whether to have casino boats they ought to let Orangeburg County decide whether it wants a high stakes bingo parlor run by the Catawba Indian Nation.

The Catawbas want to build a bingo parlor near Santee and Interstate 95 that would offer games 24 hours a day linked to other bingo games across the country so bigger payouts could be offered.

But a bill to allow the bingo parlor stalled last year. This year, senators are deciding whether to allow local governments to ban casino boats from their shores. The bill should be taken up this week.

Women sentenced for stealing

The pastor of a church whose former bookkeeper stole more than $300,000 to finance riverboat gambling binges said he had hoped the judge who sentenced her on theft charges would be more lenient.

About 15 family members and friends offered support to Victoria Samuelson on Friday as she left LaPorte Circuit Court after being sentenced to two years of work release and ordered to repay $277,000 she still owes to Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church.