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- <text id=89TT0611>
- <title>
- Mar. 06, 1989: Business Notes:Gambling
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1989
- Mar. 06, 1989 The Tower Fiasco
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- BUSINESS, Page 55
- Business Notes
- Gambling
- Rolling Sevens Out at Sea
- </hdr><body>
- <p> For passengers, boarding Le Mistral II in Port Isabel,
- Texas, the only luggage needed is their bankroll. Le Mistral
- embarks on four-to-six-hour cruises into the Gulf of Mexico,
- where the ship eludes the Texas ban on casino gambling. When
- the vessel enters international waters, the crew opens the
- ship's gaming tables and slot machines. Since its maiden voyage
- in November, it has been attracting 250 to 300 customers a trip.
- </p>
- <p> While Florida-based ships offer similar trips to nowhere, Le
- Mistral is the first in Texas. One reason is that it cruises
- through a loophole in state law that requires the ship to make a
- "bona fide voyage to a foreign port," an obligation Le Mistral
- fulfills by sailing to a point off Mexico and clearing customs
- by radio. But the Texas legislature is considering striking the
- foreign-port requirement, thus making such cruises more
- practical from Galveston and other Texas ports.
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
-
-