NEWTON ? Harvey County voters said yes to a destination casino in mail-in ballots tallied Friday.

Commissioners in Harvey County, as well as Marion and Sumner counties, decided in October to put the issue before voters in an effort to land a $300 million destination-resort casino.

The Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska initially wanted to build the casino in suburban Wichita. But now the tribe is looking for other locations as the Sedgwick County Commission continues to put off a referendum on the project.

With about 20,000 ballots mailed to Harvey County voters, the unofficial count was 6,403 to 6,030.

Gambling opponents said they didn’t have enough time to get out their message.

Voting is still under way in Marion and Sumner counties.

The advisory referendums are seen as crucial because efforts to approve casinos in Sedgwick County failed in the Legislature this year, in part because county voters had not approved.