THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 4, 1994 TAG: 9411040723
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short : 39 lines
A company trying to pitch dockside casinos to Virginia says the industry would generate up to $260 million a year in state tax revenue, more than three times the amount projected for riverboat casinos.
A representative of a Las Vegas casino-hotel company is pushing a proposal that would allow construction of up to 23 casinos around the state.
David R. Merker of the Imperial Palace Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas insists that America is becoming a casino nation and that Virginia needs to get in the game before its neighbors do.
On a publicity trip to Richmond on Wednesday, Merker predicted that 23 dockside casinos in Virginia would also generate up to 50,000 new jobs and an added $56 million yearly in local taxes.
Riverboat proponents said seven floating casinos could create up to 24,000 jobs and produce annual state tax revenue of $81 million and local tax revenue of $42 million.
The far more modest proposal for seven riverboat casinos has run aground in the General Assembly two years running.
Del. Jerrauld C. Jones, D-Norfolk, sponsor of the riverboat gambling legislation, said dockside casinos are ``incompatible'' with Virginia.
``When you go to dockside casinos, you have in effect lost control over the activity,'' Jones said Wednesday. ``Riverboat gaming is more controlled and more encapsulated. . . .
``What Mr. Merker wants to do is bring to Virginia the Las Vegas style, land-based casino gaming. (Dockside casinos) do nothing to help the Virginia economy or to help build boats in Virginia.'' by CNB