| When you're subjecting a couple of dollars to a 4.8 to 5.8 percent hold on dollar slots that's one thing, but when you're taking that same couple of bucks and exposing it to a 11.7 to 14.3 percent hold on a nickel play, you can see that the theoretical value of your gambling dollar is weakened appreciably by the nickel game.Isle of Capri Casinos, Inc., a pioneer in this country's riverboat casino industry, has evolved from a single operation in Biloxi, Mississippi, to one of the ten largest publicly held gaming companies in the United States. Isle Corp, whose chairman and founder is Bernard Goldstein, widely regarded as the "Father of Riverboat Casinos", owns and operates riverboat, dockside, and land-based casinos at 14 locations in six states. Although the company does not have a property in Illinois, it owns two nearby casinos in the Quad Cities on the Iowa side of the Mississippi River: The Isle of Capri Casino & Hotel in Bettendorf and the Rhythm City Casino in Davenport. If you've never experienced "Isle Style", the 2 1/2-hour drive along I-80 West is well worth it for a weekend getaway. During a recent conversation I had with Timothy M. Hinkley, president and chief operating officer for Isle Corp., I discovered that the Quad Cities market will play a pivotal role in the company's ambitious plans for growth and expansion. "We want to continue growing in the Quad Cities because it is a great market for us," said Hinkley, who prior to assuming the top position earlier this year served as senior vice president of operations for the company for six years. "It's a matter of determining what we should spend and where. "Do we put all the money into Davenport or all the money into Bettendorf, or do we split it up between both locations? What's we've been doing is running some studies to give us an idea of what we can do to derive the best 'bang' for our buck. "That's the nice thing about having two properties in the same market. We've already seen some economic savings, and the market's been doing relatively well. If we can add more product and draw from further out, especially those people in Chicago who want to escape from the 'rush-rush' atmosphere, then that's what we'll do. The hardball approach that Illinois has chosen to take against gambling not only has negatively impacted the people who attend casinos, it has placed the future health of the industry in jeopardy as well as stifling its development into a regional travel and tourism destination. To put the 70 percent tax on the state's most successful riverboat casino operations into proper perspective, let's take a look at the tax structures of the 10 other states that have commercial casinos: Colorado: Graduated tax rate with a maximum of 20 percent. Indiana: Graduated tax rate from 15 percent to 35 percent. Iowa: Graduated tax rate with a maximum of 20 percent. Louisiana: 21.5 percent. Michigan: 18 percent tax plus state and municipal services fees of $12.3 million per casino. Mississippi: Graduated tax rate with a maximum of eight percent. Up to four percent additional tax may be imposed by local governments. Missouri: 20 percent. Nevada: Graduated tax with a maximum of 6.25 percent. New Jersey: Eight percent plus a community investment alternative obligation of 1.25 percent. South Dakota: Eight percent. |
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