Casino proposal bets on Underground Atlanta

ATLANTA -- Underground Atlanta — a 12-acre retail and entertainment complex downtown — is like a phoenix, the mythical bird that symbolizes this city that rose from the ashes: Another incarnation is always rising.

The latest proposal for this longtime, often troubled Atlanta landmark is the most ambitious: Promoters want to spend $400 million turning Underground into a gleaming gambling edifice featuring 5,500 slot machine-like devices, a 29-story hotel, upscale restaurants and Vegas-style shows.

Getting approval for a casino in Georgia won't be easy: The state lottery, which provides college scholarships for Georgians, is the only legal form of gambling. Gov. Sonny Perdue, a Republican, opposes gaming. Efforts to bring in everything from horse-racing to gaming tables have foundered.

Business partners Dan O'Leary and John Aderhold, however, think they can circumvent opposition. Gambling machines at Underground wouldn't be true slots, they say, but "video lottery terminals" managed by the state lottery. The machines look like slots but pay out at a predetermined rate so there's less random chance.

The lottery would get 50% of gross revenues from the machines. No legislative approval is required. The machines would require approval only from the Georgia Lottery Board, which has not yet considered the proposal.

"It's just a legal form of gambling now approved by the state," says O'Leary, 46, managing partner of Underground. "We can create a virtual casino experience, but they are video lottery terminals. The general public won't be able to tell the difference" between the terminals and slot machines.

O'Leary is selling the proposal as a way to pump an additional $200 million or more a year into the HOPE scholarship program. He says a revitalized Underground would generate 2,000 direct jobs and $2.8 billion a year in related tourism.

Thomas Grey, spokesman for StopPredatoryGambling.org doubts the economic benefits. "With the economy the way it is now, it's hard for government to argue that people should go gamble, instead of save and invest, pay down debt," he says.