Barbour: Let casinos move onshore but touching water

Emily Wagster Pettus

Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2005 | 10:15 a.m.

JACKSON, Miss. -- Nearly a month after Hurricane Katrina walloped south Mississippi, Gov. Haley Barbour is proposing to let coast casinos build on or near the shore, as long as they still have facilities touching water.

Barbour, who campaigned in 2003 on preventing the spread of gambling, said his plan "will not have any material effect" on where the state already allows casinos. He said his proposal mirrors a resolution the Harrison County Board of Supervisors adopted last week, asking that casinos be allowed to go 1,500 feet inland.

"We have learned the hard way that making them float on water is not a good idea," Barbour said Monday.

Allowing land-based casinos is one of more than 20 topics Barbour has put on the agenda of a special legislative session he called for the state to handle hurricane recovery. The session convenes at 11 a.m. at the Capitol.

Most of the 13 coast casinos were heavily damaged by Katrina. The hurricane's powerful winds and storm surge tossed some of the massive gambling barges ashore and ripped away walls of others, exposing twisted metal skeletons.

Some casino companies now say they want to develop on land; others say they'll rebuild where they are.

The state legalized casinos in 1990 but restricted them to the waters of the Mississippi River or the Gulf of Mexico.

Religious groups including the Mississippi Baptist Convention and the American Family Association are lobbying against any change in state casino laws.

A key lawmaker says debate at the Capitol could hinge on how people interpret the phrase "inland gaming."

"I don't want to be Clintonesque here, but I think you really have to define what is 'inland,"' House Gaming Committee Chairman Bobby Moak, D-Bogue Chitto, said Monday.

Moak offers a narrow interpretation, saying casinos should be restricted to counties and communities where they already exist. He also said if legislators approve a change, it probably will be to let casinos move inland a matter of feet -- not a matter of miles.

Moak's committee is the first stop for any gambling legislation that goes through the House, and as chairman he strongly influences what emerges. Moak said the Mississippi River casinos have shown little interest in moving on land. Barbour's proposal does not include the river casinos, but the governor said legislators might try to include them.

Barbour said people have a right to expect the state will stick close to the concept of the 15-year-old law that limited gambling to certain parts of the state.

"I am sure there will be people who say, 'Well, we shouldn't even let them come 100 feet on shore.' Or that 1,500 feet is too many feet on shore," Barbour said. "To me there is absolutely no material or significant difference in a state that is nearly 400 miles long with allowing a casino to sit on ground 1,000 feet from the beach than for it to sit over the water 100 feet off the beach."

Harrah's Entertainment Inc., which owns the Grand Casinos in Biloxi and Gulfport, is promoting the phrase "shore-based gaming." The company is asking for a change in law to allow casinos to build 2,000 feet from the shore.

Jan Jones, Harrah's senior vice president of government relations and communications, said casino companies could build larger "integrated resorts" with convention space and other tourist attractions if they could go on shore. She said if casinos must remain over water, there's not enough space for the resorts' non-gambling offerings.

A Mississippi law enacted earlier this year allows casinos to build on pilings to provide some protection in storms, but none of them had time to do so.

Jones said building on land is safer than building over water, even on pilings.

"Some of those barges are the size of two football fields and (Katrina) threw them across the road like they were down pillows," she said.

Part of the Grand Casino in Gulfport was tossed onto the beach-side highway, U.S. 90. Destruction crews blew the barge up last week in preparation for removing the wreckage.

Asked if Harrah's will rebuild on the coast if casinos must remain over water, Jones said she didn't know. But she added: "We're going to try to do the right thing by the state and by our employees."

On Monday, the Mississippi Economic Council board of directors endorsed allowing casinos to go on land, but only near the coast shoreline.

"The Mississippi Gulf Coast is rich in diversity -- and gaming is part of that mix," MEC president Blake Wilson said in a news release.

"The Legislature can help assure that the industry rebuilds by allowing reconstruction of casinos on dry land," Wilson said. "But we also must be mindful of the need to follow the general spirit of the original law, while providing local governments the flexibility of determining how development will occur through planning and zoning actions."

Barbour is putting a plethora of other issues before lawmakers during the special session, including his MEC-backed proposal to create a loan program for small businesses.