Sumner County Casino Decision Delayed

December 01, 2009

by Kim Hynes (TOPEKA, Kan.)

The Sumner County casino project is on hold, for now. Tuesday, the Lottery Review Board voted to send the Chisholm Creek proposal back to the Lottery for negotiations.

The vote came after casino developers asked for an extension. Lakes Entertainment President Tim Cope says the landscape has changed since they negotiated the initial contract. He says new information in recent weeks about a tribal casino in Park City has them wanting to make changes. He says there's a good possibility the Secretary of Interior could approve the tribal casino in the near future.

The Wyandotte Nation owns ten acres of land in Park City, near Wild West World. Years ago it applied to have the land put into a trust. The Department of Interior has the application and will eventually decide what to do with it. If it opts to put the land in a trust, the Wyandotte Nation can open a Class 2 gaming facility almost immediately. That means bingo type games and no table games.

Kansas Lottery Director Ed Van Petten says the state will not financially benefit from a Class 2 gaming tribal casino, so it needs to make sure the Sumner County casino generates as much revenue as possible. He think the state will come out better with a new contract.

Cope says when they initially applied, the Chisholm Creek Casino would have had a monopoly on gaming in the region. He says to deal with the potential competition, they'd like to increase the size of the gaming floor and speed up the opening date of the casino. For that to happen, they need to change wording in the contract with the state.

Chisholm Creek also wants to add a hotel in the contract. It's partnered with a third party developer to build a hotel within months of the casino opening. Cope says they want that wording included to guarantee to the state that a hotel will happen.

Cope says they're not put off by the threat of competition, they just want to make sure they have the best contract possible to generate revenue for the state.

Van Petten says they'll make the changes as quickly as possible, in order to get the contract back before the Lottery Review Board. The Lottery Review Board will make the ultimate decision on whether the casino proposal can move forward.

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