Casino pitch gets tepid response

The Georgia Lottery Board heard a pitch Thursday for casino gambling at Underground Atlanta, but its chairman said afterward that he has no plans to call a vote on the proposal.

The board would have to approve gambling at the downtown entertainment and shopping mall, so the lack of action appears to be a serious, and possibly fatal, blow.

However, in a phone call after the meeting, board Chairman Tony Campbell said it doesn’t mean the lottery board will never vote on the casino.

“There’s a lot more that needs to be done in terms of due diligence,” he said.

The board has had the proposal for more than a year, and some members visited a Delaware casino last year to learn more about video lottery casinos.

Underground Atlanta’s operators gave the board a PowerPoint presentation of their $450 million planned makeover for the struggling mall. It would include thousands of video lottery terminals and a high-rise hotel.

The lottery has been under pressure from the Georgia Legislature to find new ways to increase revenues to fund the HOPE scholarship. Despite the recession, the lottery’s revenues increased 3.9 percent in its last quarter, with profits up 8.7 percent, Campbell said.

Supporters say the casino could generate hundreds of millions of dollars for scholarships.

Board member John Watson, a former chief of staff for Gov. Sonny Perdue, said he didn’t think there was enough support on the board for the casino. The plan calls for the lottery terminals to be owned and operated by the lottery.

“I don’t anticipate a vote,” Watson said.

Campbell said Watson is the board’s newest member and “doesn’t speak for the board.”

The board is appointed by the governor. Perdue opposes the casino plan, spokesman Bert Brantley said Thursday.

“It’s an unsolicited proposal,” he said. It doesn’t require any kind of vote.”

He said Perdue is concerned the casino could run afoul of state laws and the state constitution, which bans forms of gambling such as video poker.

“I understand the technicalities of the proposal maneuver around” these things, but Perdue is still concerned, Brantley said.

Developer Dan O’Leary, reached after the meeting, acknowledged that he may need to wait for a new governor and then “take the temperature” of the board. Perdue’s second term expires next year.