Page 76: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 1993)

The main deck casino on the Players Riverboat Casino, as designed by Directions In Design of St. Louis.

Gaming Boom Continues

Recent Developments: Service Marine Delivers Northern Star, First Major Casino-Owned

Boat; ITT Sheraton Enters Gaming Vessel Arena

Optimism surrounding the gaming vessel market seemingly reaches new heights monthly, with news of legislation passed, contracts for vessels signed and new branch offices of ancillary suppliers opened.

Missouri Legislation Paves

Way For Newbuilding

In a much anticipated move, the

Missouri legislature passed a bill which authorized the formation of a state gaming commission, which in effect may pave the way for riverboat gaming to begin as early as the end of 1993.

The Missouri Senate and House approved a committee bill which would establish a five-member gam- ing commission, which would be charged with the duty to license gambling boat applicants.

As worded by the legislature, the law would allow for five boat slips, potentially allowing for continuous

June, 1993 docking, but a decision, both in num- ber and terms, left up to the commis- sion.

In Louisiana, the Louisiana

Riverboat Gaming Commission has started to dole out the 15 available licenses to more than 35 hopeful applicants.

One of the higher-profile projects, a $55 million project between the

Hilton Hotels Corp. and New Or- leans Paddlewheels Inc., was given the green light as it received its

Certificate of Preliminary Approval, as reported in the May 1993 issue of

Maritime Reporter.

The partnership will build the 2,400-passenger Queen of New Or- leans riverboat casino, a 404-foot by 90-foot vessel, at Trinity Marine

Group's Equitable Yard. Modeled after elaborate paddlewheel boats of the 1890's, the Queen of New

Orleans is slated to open in the sum- mer of 1994.

Finally, the Mississippi Gaming

Commission recently granted final site plan approval for dockside ca- sino development to Harrah's, the casino entertainment division of The

Promus Companies.

The $49 million project is to be located in Tunica County, Miss., approximately 20 miles south of

Memphis.

Harrah's will be a 75 percent gen- eral partner in the project with Belz

Enterprise of Memphis holding the other 25 percent. The proposed fa- cility will feature 32,100-sq.-ft. of casino entertainment space with 1,460 slot machines and 54 gaming tables.

A Builder's Delight

Among the recent launching and newbuilding announcements was the launch of Harrah's Northern

Star by Morgan City, La.-based Ser- vice Marine.

The 210- by 67-foot Northern Star has a certificate for 1,200 passen- gers plus crew and 800 gaming posi- tions.

This is the first riverboat casino in the U.S. to be owned and operated by one of the nation's major casino entertainment companies.

The interior of the Northern Star, which will operate in Joliet, 111., was designed by Morris and Brown of

Las Vegas, and the vessel features an atrium, with a glass cab elevator, through the second and third decks.

The boat has 460 tons of air condi- tioning provided by Carrier chillers and air handlers, and Service Ma- rine has installed a smoke extrac- tion system which changes the air in the boat every eight minutes to mini- mize the effects of smoking.

The Northern Star, which is the first of two gaming boats built by

Service Marine for Harrah's, is pow- ered by two 960-hp Caterpillar die- sel engines through a flexible mount- ing system furnished by Lo-Rez.

In another deal Harrah's and part- ner Et River Corp. were awarded a

Certificate of Preliminary Approval for a $41.3 million gaming develop- ment in Shreveport, La., and con- struction of a 210-foot turn-of-the- 77