THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 19, 1994 TAG: 9408190630
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: VIRGINIA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
The first city in Virginia to request proposals for riverboat casinos has received seven responses and hopes to choose one as its preferred operator before a special General Assembly session next month.
But Newport News officials, who set an Aug. 1 deadline for proposals, have refused to release a list of the potential operators.
Industrial Development Authority Chairman Alan Witt said in a letter last week that the authority wouldn't make the names public because each is considering using city property.
``Under the circumstances and after discussion with IDA counsel, the requested information will not be made available,'' Witt wrote to the Daily Press, which had asked for the information.
Virginia's Freedom of Information Act allows localities to withhold information that could affect the sale of public property.
But John Edwards, head of the Virginia Press Association's FOI committee, said the city could release the names of the companies without revealing what sites they are considering. ``They have a really thin leg to stand on,'' Edwards said of the city's refusal to identify the companies.
Despite the refusal, the newspaper on Thursday identified a local planning consultant and a Phoenix-based casino operator as among the seven who submitted proposals.
An executive with the Aztar Corp. of Phoenix confirmed that it contacted the city. ``We think there's an ample market there,'' said company spokesman Joe Cole.
Aztar owns three casinos in Nevada and New Jersey and last year had revenues of $512 million, Cole said. None of its casinos are on riverboats.
Cole declined to provide details about his company's proposal.
The newspaper also said John Matthews, a Yorktown planning consultant, submitted a proposal on behalf of a local group. Matthews did not return a call Thursday to his office.
In June, the city sent copies of proposal guidelines to 20 businesses. It was the first municipality in the state to seek proposals for floating casino operations, said Del. Jerrauld C. Jones, D-Norfolk.
Jones sponsored a bill at the 1994 regular session of the General Assembly to legalize riverboat gambling, but it failed. He has said he may try to reintroduce the measure.
Supporters of riverboat gambling have said the industry could bring in $42 million annually in taxes and create 21,000 jobs statewide. Critics are concerned about crime and whether casinos would hurt the state's developing pari-mutuel industry. by CNB