Casino biding time, will await voters' call

For two years now Tom Timmons, vice president of operations for Wild Rose Entertainment, has played the waiting game in Sugar Creek.

“It hasn’t been easy,” said Timmons, who recently launched a new land-based casino in Clinton, Iowa.

On June 16, the Missouri Gaming Commission unanimously approved a moratorium on its decision whether to cap the number of casino licenses in the state at 13, its current number, which includes one casino under construction in St. Louis. The commission yielded to an initiative petition spearheaded by Ameristar Kansas City Casino and Hotel on Missouri 210 and Pinnacle Entertainment’s Lumiere Place in St. Louis calling for a referendum issue on the November ballot.

A question concerning the number of statewide casinos will appear on the referendum along with several other items. If passed, it would end Wild Rose’s hope of building a casino in Sugar Creek in the near future.

Timmons said he is aware that Wild Rose’s $50,000 license application fee to the commission may be refunded in full upon request.

But he’s content to wait.

“I know what’s on the table,” Timmons said. “But we’re not backing out; we’re still very interested and hope we can proceed.”

 On Feb. 20, the commission – despite disapproval from gaming industry representatives and stock market analysts – voted 5-0 to accept submissions from developers interested in building a casino in Sugar Creek. Iowa-based Wild Rose Entertainment was the lone applicant, proposing a $135 million facility on 200 acres east of Missouri 291 just south of LaBenite Park. With 1,200 slot machines and 30 table games, it would be the smallest riverboat casino floor in the Kansas City market. Plans also include a hotel and some stores with the possibility of a marina, an open-air theater and a golf course.

Timmons said that according to a study by the University of Missouri-St. Louis, it was clear that another casino would have a positive impact on Kansas City and the state as a whole.

“The study showed that (a Sugar Creek casino) will shift revenues, yes, but it also showed that Kansas City can support another casino and gain from it,” Timmons said. “In St. Louis, the addition of a casino last year (Pinnacle Entertainment’s Lumiere Place, a $507 million casino with a gaming floor measuring 75,000 square feet) brought revenues up.”

According to the study, which was released in January, Kansas City’s overall revenue due to a Sugar Creek casino was expected to increase between 2.4 and 3.2 percent, or $20.5 million. On the other hand, Ameristar, Harrah’s North Kansas City Casino and Hotel, Argosy Riverside and the Isle of Capri were projected to lose almost $200 million.

Timmons said he isn’t going to fault the commission.

“We’ve followed the commission’s lead on everything up to this point,” Timmons said, “and we’ll continue to do so; all we can do now is watch and listen and wait for the voters’ determination.”