Herschend: No deal to end gambling loss limit
By Allen Palmeri
Staff Writer
April 27, 2004
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Peter Herschend |
JEFFERSON CITY – Peter Herschend, vice chairman of the board for Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation, denies that a deal has been cut in the state Capitol that would exchange passage of a bill requiring countywide approval for future casinos—in effect, shielding family-friendly Branson from getting a gambling boat—for a bill eliminating the $500 loss limit clause in state law.
“That’s not on the table at all,” Herschend said.
Herschend, whose Branson-based corporation owns, operates or partners in 19 properties in 9 states including Silver Dollar City, admitted he has met with gambling proponents. Critics have pointed to Herschend’s behavior as an example of Christians stooping to “dirty politics” — a charge Herschend says is wrong.
“I believe strongly that when there’s a problem, one of the smart things to do is to sit down and get both sides talking together,” he said. “In other words, talk with the people who do gambling, and I did just that. One of the things that is big on their agenda is the elimination of the loss limit. That’s on their agenda — not on my agenda. My agenda, I said to them, is to control where gambling takes place.”
Jay Scribner, pastor, First Baptist Church, Branson, said that while it was true that when Herschend talked to The Pathway on April 16, the deal was off the table, it would be false to deny that a deal has been in the works.
“That is what he has been trying to do,” Scribner said.
“I don’t think we ought to compromise a bit with the devil, and that’s what this would be. I think we can see it (placing a gambling boat in the Branson area) defeated without this compromise.
“I know Pete’s motive is to protect Branson, but again, I go back to the scriptural basis of having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. Why would we want to try to negotiate with the gambling syndicate? That is who’s behind gambling.”
Kerry Messer, lobbyist for the Christian Life Commission of the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC), noted that two countywide vote bills are alive in the General Assembly — one in the House of Representatives and one in the Senate. The Senate bill has made it to the informal calendar. Messer said it is quite possible that in the last three weeks of the legislative session, one of three Senate bills to repeal the loss limit could be attached to the countywide vote bill sponsored by Sen. Doyle Childers, R-Reeds Springs. Childers explained how that might happen.
“Limiting the number of gaming licenses is one that I would welcome,” Childers said. “I think it might strengthen the bill. The other one that really gives me great indigestion is the $500 loss limit, which I have never liked. But given the choice of (adding) the $500 loss limit (to) the bill that allowed the larger (countywide) vote, I would probably hold my nose, gag and vote for it.”
If a “deal” has been cut, Messer said evidence would likely pop up first in the Senate, which is considered to be more moderate than the House. Herschend said any talk of an agreement is “a completely separate issue” and is not related to the Childers bill at all.
Sen. Delbert Scott, R-Lowry City, voted to pass the countywide vote measure out of committee. By doing so he hopes to give Taney County voters an opportunity to vote on a proposed casino for Rockaway Beach, a small community on the White River near Branson. Pending the expected approval of signatures from registered voters, the Rockaway Beach casino will be put to a statewide vote in November. The Childers bill would create another layer of protection for anti-gambling forces, giving Taney County voters a chance to reject the casino apart from the statewide vote.
Gambling proponents are having a hard time buying what Childers is selling, saying it changes the rules in the middle of the game. They may have an easier time, though, if the loss limit is removed — a deal that would fill their coffers and promise more money to the state for education.
“There were some news reports early in the winter that that was kind of a tradeoff,” Scott said. “If there was a deal, that deal has not been discussed, certainly not with me. I think that the $500 loss limit may be the last safety mechanism for problem gamblers.”
Rep. B.J. Marsh, R-Springfield and chairman of the committee that passed the House counterpart bill on countywide approval for gambling boats, said he was not convinced his committee was doing the right thing as far as setting an example throughout the state.
“This is just one protective safety valve that may or may not be constitutional,” Scott explained. “It would have been better to have passed this a year or two years ago than to wait until the process is two-thirds of the way through and then initiate. So I do have some questions about the timing.”
Gambling opponents agree that if the Childers bill makes it cleanly through the Senate and House in the final three weeks of the session it will be a victory.
“We’ve got to stop gambling from happening more and more,” Herschend said.