The State Gaming Commission might find itself running one of the casinos it licenses. The Commission says it cannot finish its investigation of the proposed buyer of the Casino Aztar in Caruthersville before the November 19th deadline demanded by the Aztar Corporation. Aztar has agreed to a corporate buyout by Columbia Sussex Corporation for two-billion dollars and it wants to sell the Caruthersville casino to another group. But the Commission says it won’t have its investigation of that group finished by then, and Aztar has threatened to close the Caruthersville casino if the sale does not go through. The Commission has decided to go to court to keep Aztar from shutting down the Caruthersville casino and letting the state take control of operations of the business.
