EDITORS LETTER

When Is A Boat Not A Boat?

In the past week alone, I received three letters from people asking me for information about casinos in Mississippi. That’s fine–I enjoy answering specific questions, especially if my experiences will help make someone’s trip a notch better. That’s the goal of every travel writer.

But the thing that surprised me most was that each person referred to the casinos as "boats." When I explained that the majority of Mississippi’s casinos were not "boats" but massive, floating casinos, complete with restaurants and hotels, they seemed surprised in their return notes. They’re not boats? If they float, they must be boats, right?

Well, not quite. But as I suspect this is a question many people are struggling with, let me take a step back and shed some light on this "floating" business.

Gaming’s expansion to America’s heartland began in Iowa in April 1991, when the President, the Diamond Lady and the Casino Belle opened for business. These casinos were definitely riverboats, gutted and fitted to allow for multiple decks of slot machines and table games, with an engine and crew for cruising inland waterways. At this point, the riverboat casinos were merely supplements to local tourism. The table limits were kept low, there were overall loss limits, and people were only allowed to gamble when the boats cruised. They were, oddly enough, considered to be family entertainment, even though the gambling age was set at 21.

Within a few months, gaming had spread to Illinois, where it was welcomed with fewer restrictions–no loss limits and larger boats–but still bound by cruising rules. Missouri, Indiana and Louisiana would all more or less follow the same riverboat gambling principles as they legalized casinos, with just enough variation in state gambling law to create a distinction between borders.

But Mississippi was different. Mississippi knew from the beginning that it wanted more than just riverboats–it wanted full-scale gambling casinos, with all the amenities available in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Yet it wanted to limit gaming’s growth to waterways and potential tourism areas, much like the other states had done. Mississippi’s answer was to modify the gambling area, doing away with riverboat restrictions and introducing the concept of "floating" casinos. Built on massive barges and secured to shoreside docking facilities, Mississippi’s casinos rival anything available in Vegas or on the Boardwalk, as exemplified by "megaresorts" like Beau Rivage and the trio of Grand Casinos throughout the state.

These are not boats. They have no engines and they do not cruise. They float, but you’d never know it. And they’re not cramped or smoky, as most riverboats tend to be.

Here’s a brief rundown of each "riverboat" state’s gaming laws:

Illinois: Riverboats no longer cruise, so access is simple. No other limits.

Indiana: Riverboats cruise, except during inclement weather or dangerous water conditions.

Iowa: Riverboats cruise, except during inclement weather or dangerous water conditions, but low-limit betting restrictions have been lifted.

Louisiana: Riverboats cruise, except during inclement weather or dangerous water conditions. All vessels must resemble 19th Century Mississippi steamships.

Missouri: Riverboats don’t have to cruise; mostly riverboats, but regulations now allow for barges similar to Mississippi; $500 per-cruise betting limits can be confusing since boats don’t cruise, but follow a cruise schedule in order to impose the "per-cruise" loss limit.

As for Mississippi, just visit the Gulf Coast or Tunica, and you’ll forget you ever thought they were boats. Frankly, it doesn’t even belong in the list of "riverboat" states.

As far as I’m concerned, list it right under Nevada and New Jersey. And don’t call them boats

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