**Exhibit 31.2**

 

**CERTIFICATIONPURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002**

 

I, Dale R.Black, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, certify that:

 

1.     Ihave reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of Argosy Gaming Company(the “Report”);

2.     Basedon my knowledge, this Report does not contain any untrue statement of amaterial fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statementsmade, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, notmisleading with respect to the period covered by this Report;

3.     Basedon my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial informationincluded in this Report, fairly present in all material respects the financialcondition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, andfor, the periods presented in this Report;

4.     Theregistrant’s other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishingand maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange ActRules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financialreporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f))for the registrant and we have:

a)     designed suchdisclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls andprocedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that materialinformation relating to the registrant, including its consolidatedsubsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularlyduring the period in which this Report is being prepared;

b)    designed suchinternal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control overfinancial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonableassurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparationof financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generallyaccepted accounting principles;

c)     evaluatedthe effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures andpresented in this Report our conclusions about the effectiveness of thedisclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by thisReport based on such evaluation; and

d)    disclosedin this Report any change in the registrant’s internal control over financialreporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter (theregistrant’s fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that hasmaterially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, theregistrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and

5.     The registrant’sother certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recentevaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant’sauditors and the audit committee of the registrant’s board of directors (orpersons performing the equivalent function):

a)     allsignificant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation ofinternal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely toadversely affect the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize andreport financial information; and

b)    any fraud, whether or not material, that involves managementor other employees who have a significant role in the registrant’s internalcontrol over financial reporting.

 
| Date: May 6, 2005 |                                               |
|------------------------|----------------------------------------------------|
|                   |                                               |
|                   |                                               |
|                   |   /s/ Dale R. Black                      |   |
|                   |                                               |
|                   | Dale R. Black                                      |
|                   | Senior Vice President and Chief Financial  Officer |

 

----