Local
Well, It’s All Over For The Presidents Casino
By Bob Hudson
Mar 11, 2010 - 2:36:09 PM

Pinnacle Entertainment will give up the President Casino's gaming license.  The casino's owners have decided to drop their appeal of last month's Missouri Gaming Commission ruling calling for the casino on the Admiral to close over poor performance. The Admiral Riverboat was named the steamship Albatross when it started life, a word that means a wearisome burden, and now Pinnacle Entertainment has finally succeeded in removing it from around its’ neck in July. 

Gaming Commissioner spokesperson LeAnn McCarthy says the agreement means a months-long dispute between the two sides is over.” This means Pinnacle agrees to surrender the President’s license and the gaming commission plans to rescind preliminary order of discipline they issued back in January.” And this means state regulators can stop trying to get the President to shut down over financial problems. As McCarthy points out, “The commission also agreed the surrender of the license means no further action against the President, related to the preliminary order. And the commission agrees to confirm that Pinnacle is in good standing in the state of Missouri.”

Officials with Las Vegas-based Pinnacle say fighting regulators over the casino would hurt business in other states. The casino owners say they are voluntarily closing the President to preserve their relationship with state regulators for the sake of Pinnacle's two other St. Louis casinos, Lumière Place and the new River City Casino.  So in the end, the ill-fated experiment to turn the Admiral from a classy excursion boat into a casino only resulted in a lot of out-of-work casino personnel and ruining the look of a grand old riverboat. The President is expected to close July 1st.