Arkansas gambling away big dollars in other states

There may not be legalized gambling in Arkansas, but casino operators in other states are certainly profiting from the steady droves of gamblers from the Natural State. According to a 2003 survey on the gaming industry, more than 432,000 Arkansas adults gambled at an out-of-state casino in 2002. The comprehensive study includes findings on gamblers in Arkansas, and specifically the Little Rock and Pine Bluff areas. Arkansas casino players averaged five casino trips to gamble in 2002 - a total of 2,162,000 casino visits for the year, the study commissioned by Harrah's Entertainment Inc. shows. The top casino destination for Arkansas gamblers was Tunica, Miss., which captured 80 percent of all casino trips. Gamblers from the Little Rock and Pine Bluff areas made a total of 1,011,000 casino visits in 2002. The 233,000 casino players from those areas took an average of 4.3 annual trips. But there is no need to look at a study commissioned by Harrah's, one of the nation's largest casino operators, to know that surrounding states are seeing a steady stream of Arkansas travelers. In its first quarter financial statements, Biloxi, Miss.-based Isle of Capri Casinos Inc. made known that it is making a big gamble to get steady traffic from Arkansas. Just across the Mississippi River from Helena is its Isle of Capri-Lula Casino, a stationary boat in Lula, Miss., that is open 24 hours. The 55,000-square-foot complex features 1,514 slots and 29 table games. In its earnings statements, Capri warned that "the Isle-Lula has faced a relatively weak economy in eastern Arkansas, its main feeder market." The publicly traded casino operator also has a Caribbean-themed property in Bossier City, La., destination for a steady stream of gamblers not far across the Arkansas state line. Capri also has 10 other casino or riverboat gambling operations in three states that abut Arkansas - Mississippi, Louisiana and Missouri. Last month, Missouri voters rejected a state constitutional amendment that would have allowed a casino in Rockaway Beach, a small resort just nine miles north of Branson and only 20 miles from the Arkansas state line. According to the August edition of Internet-based Gambling Magazine, Springfield, Mo.,-based trucking magnate Robert Low spent millions on the ballot proposal, called Amendment 1. He and Southwest Casino and Hotel Corp., a Minneapolis-based company, had promised to build a $100 million casino complex that would draw additional tourists to Southwest Missouri - bringing people who now opt for other destinations, such as Tunica. "There's a tremendous unrequited demand from Arkansas and Oklahoma," Low said, according to media reports. Low also owns the Palace Casino Resort in Biloxi, Miss., a lavish resort complex with 236 rooms, a 43,500-square-foot casino, four restaurants and a ton of other upscale amenities. He spent $120 million on that property. Not surprisingly, Southwest Casino Corp., which aided Low by providing $5 million to get the gambling initiative on the Missouri ballot, also provides management services in connection with Lucky Star Casino facilities in Concho and Clinton, Okla. Those facilities - along with the growing number of Indian casinos and large bingo halls that dot the Arkansas/Oklahoma state line - see plenty of Arkansas license plates in the parking lots, according to Oklahoma gaming officials. Meanwhile, some Arkansas lobbyists believe that the Legislature is soon going face a full-court press from the gaming industry and its supporters, maybe in the next legislative session, to get a statewide gambling initiative on the ballot. Harrah's president and CEO Gary Loveman said revenue that Arkansas gamblers are sending to other states should be part of any public policy discussion. "A large number of Arkansas citizens as well as residents in surrounding states partake in casino entertainment and would enjoy playing at a gaming destination closer to where they live," Loveman said after the 2003 study was released. "Gambling dollars along with hotel and entertainment spending are flowing to other states, when they could be boosting tax revenues, jobs and capital investment in Arkansas." That may be true, but after Arkansas voters soundly defeated a legalized gambling initiative in 1996 and anti-gambling proponents successfully killed four other attempts to put such a proposal on the ballot in the past 15 years, it may be a cold day in Hades before voters allow a casino on Arkansas soil.