State, tribes seal deal on casino

Kansas would get share of profits from I-70 gambling venue

? Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ office and two American Indian tribes have concluded a compact for a large casino on the booming west side of Kansas City, Kan., about 20 minutes from downtown Lawrence.

Sebelius’ office said on Friday it would make an official announcement Monday.

“It will be a positive announcement,” Sebelius’ chief counsel Matt All said.

Neither All nor officials with the tribes would comment further, but House Speaker Doug Mays, R-Topeka, said Sebelius told him the compact was done.

Negotiations have been going on for most of the year between the state and the Kickapoo Tribe and Sac and Fox Nation to build a $210 million hotel and casino near the Kansas Speedway and the intersection of Interstates 70 and 435.

Existing tribal compacts on the four other casinos in Kansas, all in the northeast area of the state, do not give the state a share of the profits.

But the two tribes have signaled their willingness to give the state a percentage of revenues in exchange for operating in the lucrative Kansas City market. Some estimates have said the state could gain $40 million to $60 million annually in revenue.

Sebelius’ office has scheduled news conferences for noon Monday at the Capitol and at 2:30 p.m. at the Kansas Speedway Travel Information Center in Kansas City, Kan. At those, All will provide “a briefing on the Gaming Compact,” the announcement said.

Any compact also would need approval from state lawmakers. And the U.S. secretary of interior would have to put the tribes’ land in trust.

That lengthy process could start Wednesday when the State-Tribal Relations Committee meets.

The two tribes have proposed building a 250-room resort hotel and 80,000-square-foot casino on 80 acres in the rapidly emerging tourist destination around the Speedway. The casino would have about 3,000 games.

The area also includes Cabela’s, Nebraska Furniture Mart, the Great Wolf Lodge, and minor league baseball team the Kansas City T-Bones.

The area also is adjacent to The Woodlands, a horse and dog track, which has opposed the proposed casino, saying it would take away all the track’s customers.

“It would put us out of business,” said Jim Gartland, general manager of The Woodlands.

But The Woodlands will try again — as it has for years — to get the Legislature to allow it to put in slot machines.

He said if Sebelius and the tribes announced a compact, “that’s a baby step.”

It could take years for the compact to be considered by the federal government, and then it could be rejected as several have been in the past few months, he said.

If the casino became a reality, its primary market would be the surrounding 100-mile area that would include Lawrence, Topeka and St. Joseph, Mo., according to a state gambling task force report. The casino also would be competing with four riverboat casinos on the Missouri side.

Glenn Thompson, of Wichita, president of the anti-gambling group Stand Up for Kansas, said the process of a tribe getting land put in trust by the Interior Department for a casino “is very elaborate and very lengthy.”

Any land acquired by an Indian tribe after 1988 is not eligible for gambling operations unless the tribe gets an exception from the U.S. secretary of interior.

Thompson said he feared a new compact could open the door to other tribes and private developers wanting to build more casinos in Kansas.

Last week, the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska announced plans to develop a large casino near Wichita.