Casino gambling is twenty years old this year. It’s not much like the way it started out.
About the only things that haven’t changed in the state’s casino gambling law is that the gambling floors of the casinos have to float and they have to float on water from the Missouri and the Mississippi Rivers. The phrase “riverboat casino” actually applies only to the casino at Caruthersville. The state gaming commission says it’s really a boat.
Loss limit: gone. Cruises: gone. Boats in moats, land-based hotels, concert venues, extensive restaurants: here, now.
Voters have limited the number of casinos to thirteen, but commission spokesman LeAnn McCarthy says that has not stopped interest in more casinos.
                                  McCarthy :20
Even the kind of gambling has changed. The boats originally were to offer only table games.  But McCarthy says slot machines are the prevalent form of gambling in today’s casinos.
One important thing that has remained constant through the twenty years.  In the long run, the casinos always come out ahead
