Created: 1/14/2004 3:05:30 PM 
SAVANNAH, GA (AP) -- A decade after the last casino boats folded on Savannah's River Street, a new operation is ready to roll the dice.
Three weeks ago, Savannah City Council approved a liquor license for Millionaire's Casino, a 187-foot boat capable of holding 450 passengers.
Its operating company, MPH Entertainment LLC, has signed a lease with Merritt Dixon III to tie up at the docks he owns in front of the Hyatt Regency Savannah. Opening is planned for March 1.
From Savannah's waterfront, the casino plans two daily cruises to international waters three miles offshore, where gambling is legal. Manager partner Jim Monaghan said the boat will feature 325 slot machines and live gambling at black jack, craps, roulette and poker tables, in addition to sports betting through satellite feed.
Monaghan told the Savannah Morning News he will hire as many as 150 employees. Monaghan said he's playing a different game than his predecessors, most of whom attracted few customers and shut down after less than a year. He says his boat is designed for gambling, where the others were converted work boats.
And Monaghan says the market has changed since the early 1990s, when gaming was legal in South Carolina and video poker machines filled Georgia convenience stores. Now, the closest gambling is down the coast in Brunswick on the state's only casino boat.
"The supply and demand is already here," Monaghan said. "We'd be the only game in town for this kind of entertainment."
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