TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – A Kansas board was preparing Tuesday to decide which of three competing business partnerships should build a casino in the state’s southeast corner and face tough competition from tribal gambling operations in northeast Oklahoma.
The seven-member casino review board is picking a developer-and-manager group for the last of four, non-tribal casinos allowed under a 2007 Kansas law, with casinos already operating in Dodge City, Kansas City, Kansas, and south of Wichita. In an arrangement unique among U.S. states, the Kansas Lottery is the legal owner of the casinos, and the state receives at least 22 percent of the gambling profits.
The board expected to pick Tuesday evening from among Castle Rock Casino Resort, Frontenac Development and Kansas Crossing.
Development of the casino allowed in either Cherokee or Crawford county has been stymied by tribal casinos in northeast Oklahoma. The biggest is the Downstream Casino opened by the Quapaw Tribe in 2008 – so close to the state line that its parking lot is in Kansas. But there are 11 other tribal operations within 70 miles of the three developers’ sites.
“There’s a whole zoo out there of competition, not just one critter,” said Will Cummings, a Boston-area consultant hired by the casino review board.
Castle Rock’s proposal is the largest, at $145 million, and its group is planning to compete directly with Downstream at a site less than 2 miles away, along U.S. 400 in Cherokee County.
Castle Rock’s competitors questioned the wisdom of its plan, and consultants hired by the review board were skeptical of its revenue projections. One doubted the casino would make enough money to cover payments on $95 million in debt financing for the project – a suggestion Castle Rock principals strongly disputed.
Castle Rock contends that its larger project will produce the most tax revenues for the state and that it has chosen the best site, though it will go head-to-head with the biggest tribal casino in the area.
Kansas Crossing officials said they looked at a site near the Downstream casino and didn’t think it was feasible. They also argued that their $70 million project is the right size for the market. Their site is at the junction of U.S. 400 and U.S. 69 south of Pittsburg.
Frontenac Development is proposing an $84 million project north of Pittsburg at the site of the long-closed Camptown Greyhound Park. Its principal figure, Phil Ruffin Sr., is a Wichita businessman who owns the Treasure Island casino in Las Vegas and has promised to finance the project with cash.
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Online:
Casino review board: http://1.usa.gov/1BKYTuq
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Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.
