Attempt to Improve President Casino via New Riverboat Being Discussed

Casino News - July 29th, 2009 - Written by Bonnie

Casinos are not the only attraction for tourists of St. Louis. The historical riverboat has been around since 1907 and has only been rebuilt once, which was in 1940. The Admiral riverboat is in desperate need of necessary repairs in order to keep its certification for passengers. On Tuesday, Managers of the President Casino approached state regulators with a request to completely replace the Admiral riverboat without jeopardizing their operating license. The Missouri Gaming Commission conducted a hearing to obtain information for the future of the President Casino and to discus whether Pinnacle Entertainment should in fact by granted the right to use their operating license on a new riverboat.

After nearly six hours of private session, the commission staff members announced that a decision would not be made at that present time. Chairman James Mathewson insinuated they had taken in a lot of information at this public meeting and future discussion is in order. He also stated that a decision would be made "within a reasonable period of time".

Licensing plays a big part in current casinos and plans for construction on new casinos. The state of Missouri's voter approved law, limits the number of casino licenses to 13, state wide. There are 12 current operating licenses and a casino currently under construction, which means and developers with future plans to construct property that would require a license, would be forced to wait until after one of the facilities looses their current license.

Several different parties have expressed interest in new casino development so the decision on whether to allow a new riverboat to keep its current licence could very well affect a lot of different business opportunities. Lawyers for Pinnacle Entertainment are trying to work closely with casino regulators to resolve this issue in a timely manner.