Topeka ? Deciding who will manage the four state-owned and operated casinos in Kansas won’t be a task filled with glitz and glamour.

More likely, it’ll be filled with nonglitzy topics such as revenue estimates, population projections and targeted markets.

By the end of September, the decisions will have been made by the seven-member Lottery Gaming Facility Review Board on the developers for a single casino each in Cherokee, Ford, Sumner and Wyandotte counties.

It’s important for the board to pick the strongest proposals and the ones offering the best deals for the state. But it’s just as important to do it in the open, where the public can see what’s happening. Gambling automatically raises concerns for many.

Improved image

Over the years, the gambling industry has worked on its image, promoting its locations as family friendly, touting its amenities, donating to various causes and making “gaming” the industry term of art.

“There is a sleaze factor associated with the gambling industry, and some of that is deserved from years ago, and they’ve worked hard to change that. But the sleaze factor is still there, which makes transparency even more important,” said Joe Aistrup, head of Kansas State University’s political science department.

He said that makes it even more important for the board to go out of its way to show that everything is on the up and up.

Chairman Matt All, the former chief lawyer for Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, has emphasized the need for doing everything in the open. To him, transparency is the hallmark of success.

The job of picking the four managers fell to the board after the Kansas Lottery signed contracts with 11 prospective managers. The number of applicants is a good indication that the state is seen as fertile for more than wheat.

“It’s going to be a very intense three-month stretch of traveling, listening and conversations about a very complicated topic,” All said.

Vetting process

The Kansas gambling law enacted last year requires the board during its vetting process to consider three areas – what will maximize revenues for the state, what will encourage tourism and what’s in the state’s best interest.

“Understanding how much revenue each casino would create will be central to our decisions,” All said.

To that end, the board is spending $1 million to hire top-shelf consultants to crunch the numbers, construct models and postulate theories about how each casino will perform. The money to pay the consultants comes from fees assessed to the applicants, not the taxpayers.

All said board members will listen closely to the consultants for guidance before deciding.

If the board decides for some reason that none of the contracts in a particular county are good enough, it can send them back to the Lottery to begin negotiations anew.

The board isn’t confining itself to a big-picture perspective. Members traveled to Las Vegas earlier this year to see firsthand what can make or break a casino. It can be something as simple as proper heating, cooling and ventilation or as fundamental as ease of parking and convenience to the casino floor, shops, bars, restaurants and hotel.

The decision about who will operate the casinos in Cherokee and Sumner counties will come Aug. 21-22 and for Wyandotte and Ford counties Sept. 18-19. Between now and then, board members will conduct public hearings, hear sales pitches from prospective casino managers, talk to their consultants and among themselves.