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ST LOUIS-The Missouri Gaming Commission is taking steps to ensure that a casino in Caruthersville doesn't go dark in three weeks, when its owner is scheduled to be acquired by another gaming company that doesn't want the property. The commission on Wednesday directed staff to take the necessary legal steps for the appointment of a supervisor of Casino Aztar Caruthersville.

The casino's Phoenix-based owner, Aztar Corp., has agreed to sell the property to a joint venture of locally based Fortunes Entertainment, which is operated by Lance Callis, a co-founder of Argosy Gaming Co. and Argosy's predecessor company, Metro Tourism and Entertainment. The sale was scheduled to close prior to Aztar's acquisition by the gaming affiliate of Columbia Sussex Corp. of Kentucky, but the Gaming Commission said Wednesday it appears that Fortunes will not be licensed to operate the casino prior to the merger and that Aztar and its new owner will not continue to operate the property after the merger.

"It appears the state will take over property, operate it and sell it," a source at Aztar tells GlobeSt.com. Exactly how the property transfer would take place "is unresolved," the source says. "We've got to sort it all out."