Crews have begun preparations to send the former Century Casino Caruthersville riverboat off upriver on the Mississippi. This vessel, which was one of Missouri’s long-floating casinos, opened in April 1995 as the Casino Aztar Caruthersville and had its name changed several times since then. Last year, Century Casinos and Vici Properties acquired the venue and renamed it Century Casino Caruthersville.
Since the state liberalized casinos in 1993, requiring that slot machines and table games only operate on a “floating facility,” Missouri lawmakers amended the state’s commercial gaming law to allow casinos to operate above land. As a result, Century Casinos sold the riverboat and obtained permission to construct a permanent brick-and-mortar casino in Cape Girardeau.
The temporary casino, which features around 430 slots and six table games, is currently housed in a pavilion on the banks of the Mississippi. The permanent resort is expected to open late next year and will include 650 slots and twelve table games, as well as a boutique hotel with 38 guestrooms.
Larry “Cowboy” Proemsey purchased the casino’s two pedestrian bridges and the barge and is offering them as a package or piece by piece. The former riverboat casino has been relocated upriver to Cape Girardeau after a month’s worth of planning, and is currently available for viewing at the Southeast Missouri Regional Port in Scott City.
