Committee asks tribes, Sebelius to renegotiate casino compact

? A legislative committee asked the governor’s office and two Indian tribes Thursday to renegotiate a gambling compact to give the tribes’ proposed Wyandotte County casino more protection from competition.

The compact, as drafted, would permit the Kickapoo and Sac and Fox tribes to open a $210 million casino-and-resort complex near Kansas Speedway but guarantee the state a share of the revenue, possibly $50 million or more. However, the state’s share would drop if it allowed gambling elsewhere.

Tribal attorneys and Matt All, the governor’s chief counsel, said their talks would reopen to consider suggestions from the Joint Committee on State-Tribal Relations.

A 5-4 majority of the committee concluded the penalties the state would incur for allowing competition for the tribes’ new casino were not enough to deter the state from expanding gambling even more.

Some committee members oppose expanded gambling in general. They fear that if the compact’s market protections are weak, the state will expand gambling elsewhere, despite losing revenues from the Kickapoo-Sac and Fox casino.

“I would feel more comfortable with a harder line,” said Senate Majority Lana Oleen, R-Manhattan, a committee member.

The committee plans to meet Nov. 9 to review a revised compact. The panel then plans to vote on whether to forward the agreement to the Legislature’s top seven leaders, who are scheduled to meet Nov. 17.

Those leaders have the authority to approve the compact — and bind the state to its terms — because the Legislature does not reconvene until January. The U.S. Interior Department also must declare the casino site eligible for gambling.

It would be the first Indian casino in Kansas to share revenue with the state. Seven states — Arizona, California, Connecticut, Michigan, New Mexico, New York and Wisconsin — have such agreements with tribes, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Four tribes — the Kickapoo, the Sac and Fox, the Iowa and the Prairie Band Potawatomi — already operate separate casinos in northeast Kansas under compacts signed in the 1990s.

The Kansas Constitution also authorizes a state lottery and allows betting on dog and horse races. The state lottery can operate casinos or slot machine parlors, but it must have legislative approval.

Attempts have failed repeatedly over the past decade to expand nontribal gambling, despite the promise of potential revenue for the state.

As drafted, the compact with the two tribes said Kansas would start losing revenues from the new Kickapoo-Sac and Fox casino if the state permitted more than 500 state-owned slot machines or video lottery terminals within 100 miles, or if it allowed more than 1,500 machines outside 100 miles.

Revenues would trickle away as the number of machines grew, until eventually the state’s share would drop to only a few million dollars.

The committee’s 5-4 majority asked that the compact be rewritten so that the state would lose its entire share of revenue if it permitted any state-owned machines anywhere.

Other committee members protested, saying communities outside Wyandotte County are interested in gambling as potential economic development.

“I certainly don’t want to shut the door,” said Sen. Pete Brungardt, R-Salina.

The committee also asked the tribes and the governor’s office to renegotiate other parts of the compact.

One provision calls for the Kickapoo and Sac and Fox tribes to close their existing casinos within seven years; committee members suggested a shorter period.

The panel also wants negotiators to discuss earmarking some revenues for charity and setting aside more money than the compact specifies for programs to fight gambling addictions.