NATCHEZ &045; Casino gambling, which marked its 10th anniversary in Natchez on Friday, hasn’t been a winning proposition for the area, some Miss-Lou residents said.

The Rev. Dale Little, director of missions for the Adams-Union Baptist Association, said he has seen an increase in the number of compulsive gamblers that come to churches for help.

&uot;They think somebody’s going to win and it’s going to be them,&uot; Little said. But with some games, he said, &uot;the odds are a million to one.&uot;

About three months after the then-Lady Luck Casino opened in Natchez in February 1993, Baptist churches started to see their benevolence requests increase, and soon they tripled, Little said.

Another problem is that Gamblers Anonymous groups have proven hard to start, because small-town residents don’t want to admit to a group that they have a problem.

There are three classes of people who gambled compulsively, Little said.

&uot;There are those who have the money to throw away and think it’s not a problem; lower-class folks, who never had much money anyhow; and those from the middle class, who don’t want their reputation damaged,&uot; he said.

&uot;The best I can do, oftentimes, is get them to admit it to their family.&uot;

Justice Court Judge Charles Vess said he saw civil cases increase substantially about one year after the boat debuted &045; a switch from previous years, when drug and petit crime cases were the court’s big focus.

&uot;Our civil cases ballooned &045; auto repossessions, furniture repossessions, a big influx of bad checks,&uot; Vess said.

It should be noted that at the same time, state law changed to give justice courts jurisdiction over cases of up to $2,500, up from $1,000. It is not known how many cases were due to gambling, because the issue is often not brought up in court.

But the number of civil cases in Adams County Justice Court, which had fallen from 791 in 1992 to 719 in 1993, rose to 861 in 1994, according to court figures.

&uot;But from time to time, people would say they lost their money at the boat and that’s how they got into this mess,&uot; Vess said.

&uot;I’m not bashing the gaming industry, but if you don’t pay debts, the court has to get involved.&uot;

Police Chief Mike Mullins said that an increase in crime didn’t accompany the opening of the Lady Luck, now the Isle of Capri Casino.

&uot;The first year, there were several reports of robberies, but a lot of them turned out to be false reports,&uot; Mullins said.

&uot;People would lose their money on the boat and then claim it had been stolen. But they tapered off quickly.&uot;

Few business owners contacted in recent days would talk about the effect gaming has had on their businesses.

However, Troyce Guice, former owner of the Natchez Landing restaurant, said that while the casino wasn’t a factor in the recent closing of his restaurant, it did have its effects.

&uot;The bottom line Š is that money they’re spending at the casino is money they’re not spending at other businesses,&uot; Guice said.

In a survey of local business owners done a year after Lady Luck opened its doors, 71 percent of respondents said business had decreased in that year. Sixty-two percent attributed at least three-fourths of that change to the casino.

At the same time, sales at hotels and bed-and-breakfast inns were up considerably in that year, with moderate sales growth for restaurants.

What solutions are available for gaming’s negative effects?

The Isle of Capri itself trains employees to spot and assist problem gamblers, said Manager Wendy Grandin.

&uot;We want to be an entertainment facility. We want people to enjoy themselves &045; with money they can afford to spend,&uot; she said.

Patrons can fill out forms to &uot;evict&uot; themselves from the casino for a minimum of two years.

They can then apply to the casino to have that eviction lifted.

Meanwhile, churches can do their part, according to Little. &uot;I try to encourage church folks not to go (to the casino), because that might influence someone else, and that may be the very person who doesn’t need to be in a casino.&uot;

Other than that, churches can educate people on gambling’s odds and effects.

&uot;Even if you win, thousands of dollars are going out of the area,&uot; Little said. &uot;So it’s a no-win situation.&uot;