Excalibur Planning Riverboat Gambling

Excalibur Holding Corp., owner of a racetrack and video lottery complex in West Virginia, said Tuesday that it plans a new venture to develop a riverboat gambling facility in Tunica, Miss.

The Irvine-based company would own 80% of a riverboat operation that would include 600 slot machines and 25 gaming tables. Regal Casinos Inc., an Englewood, Colo., company that has a 10-year lease on a mooring site in Tunica, would own 20% of the operation.

The joint venture still must get a license from state gaming officials. The riverboat had been scheduled to open by July, but that date might be extended another four months, Excalibur officials said.

Excalibur plans to finance $9.7 million of the joint venture and provide a $200,000 deposit to buy a gaming vessel. The agreement requires that Excalibur be repaid all of its investment in the operation before any profits are distributed, although Regal would get a monthly management fee.

Another company, M&R; Investment Co. of Las Vegas, financed an initial $100,000 payment on Regal’s mooring lease. Under a separate agreement, M&R; will consider buying 50% of Excalibur’s holdings in the operation. It has until early April to decide.