Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 10, 1994                   TAG: 9403100139
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG SCHNEIDER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

RIVERBOAT BILL SURFACES YET AGAIN IN THE HOUSE

IT'S DEAD ALREADY.

For now. But supporters of riverboat gambling came within millimeters of bringing their cause back to life on Wednesday. Only an unforeseen parliamentary tactic by opponents kept the House from approving a statewide advisory referendum on the topic.

Riverboat enthusiasts were surprised but not deterred, insisting that their Wile E. Coyote of an issue - every time it falls off a cliff, it turns up with another set of Acme Rocket Shoes - eventually will prevail.

"It's not dead because it will not go away," said Del. Jerrauld Jones, D-Norfolk, the sponsor of the legislation. Only last week, Jones had a different prognosis: "It's dead. It's dead. It's dead."

But on Wednesday, Jones could point to a tangible hope for the future. A Dallas casino company announced that it has a three-year option on the Strawberry Banks Motor Inn in Hampton to build a $176 million entertainment and riverboat gambling complex.

"We were planning a full press conference tomorrow, but we felt that in light of what occurred today . . . we wanted people to know we're not - as they say - folding our tent and going home. We're committed to Virginia," said Eric D. Terry, director of development for the Hollywood Casino Corp.

Hollywood operates the Sands Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City and other casinos.

Terry said his company has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars planning the waterfront attraction, which would be adjacent to the Hampton end of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel. It would create 2,000 jobs, Terry said.

Hollywood will postpone construction for as long as three years for Virginia to approve riverboat gambling.

"The expectation is that riverboat gambling will be approved in the near term," Jones said.

Last month, Jones' original riverboat bill failed in the House 55-42. After several abortive attempts at resurrection, Jones tried Wednesday to attach riverboat gambling to a bill dealing with statewide advisory referendums.

Because that tactic just sought to ask voters for an opinion on riverboat gambling without really authorizing anything, supporters had persuaded a majority of delegates - as many as 56 - to go along with it.

But then opponents began grafting other topics onto the referendum bill: term limits for politicians, financing for the Disney theme park, requiring juveniles to ask their parents before getting an abortion and more.

The added weight scared off the support that had been lined up for riverboat gambling, and the bill was withdrawn.

"I must admit, I did not foresee that tactic," House Speaker Thomas Moss, D-Norfolk, said after the showdown. "It's obvious to me that those who are opposed to [riverboat gambling] are deathly afraid of allowing the people of the commonwealth to make the judgment. . . . But it's just a matter of time. The people that blocked it are going to start hearing from people back home about this."

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GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994