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Barbour wraps up Gaming Summit

Moratorium bill to be called up, incentives may be

By MARY PEREZ
meperez@sunherald.com

BILOXI --

Gov. Haley Barbour will call up the bill to place a moratorium on casinos during the upcoming special session, but will call the tax-incentive bill for casinos only if it has the needed support.

Barbour didn't specifically mention the casino tax-incentive bill during his speech at Thursday's Southern Gaming Summit, but said casinos invest more on amenities than on gambling. He later told reporters, "If it looks like we can get an agreement, then we will" call up House Bill 1196, which would give casinos tax incentives to invest in non-gambling tourism developments such as hotels, museums and water parks. The bill passed the House by a 79-40 vote but died in the Senate.

Senate Bill 2199, the moratorium on casinos, was narrowly defeated during the regular session, but Barbour said he hopes to get enough votes to limit casinos to the counties in which they are already located. The two bills were linked during the regular session, with anti-casino legislators willing to talk about the casino tax incentives if the moratorium succeeded. Neither bill passed.

Barbour also continues to oppose a state lottery or any increase in the casino tax. "You're going to have stability as long as I'm governor," he said.

"We've had gaming on the Coast all our lives," Barbour joked with Rep. Danny Guice, R-Ocean Springs, sitting in the first row of the audience with his father and son. He also said the Legislature had talked about allowing land-based casinos before Hurricane Katrina, and flying over the Coast days after the storm, "sure enough a bunch of the casinos had come on shore."

Barbour praised the Legislature for adopting a budget that increased spending by only 1 percent and for fully funding the rainy-day fund. But he chided the members for failing to reauthorize the Mississippi Department of Employment Security.

The agency pays unemployment benefits and is tied to Mississippi receiving $28 million in federal funds for unemployment-insurance tax. If an agreement isn't reached in special session, the agency will cease to exist and "you're no longer eligible for the federal government to pick up 90 percent of your tax," Barbour said. The employers' share would soar from .8 percent to 6.2 percent.

Barbour asked the crowd to call their legislators with the message, "You're not going to stand for that kind of foolishness." The problem will be solved in 15 minutes, he said, "if they hear from the people whose money is at risk."

Coming in Saturday Business is a report on "Fighting for Finance," with the good and the bad news for the economy and local casinos.