Still no casino bids for SE Kansas

BY FRED MANN
The Wichita Eagle

The Kansas Lottery Commission has voted to extend the deadline for casino applications in the southeast gaming zone.

With a Monday application deadline looming, the lottery still hasn't received a bid for the zone, which includes Cherokee and Crawford counties.

"I've received no word of any interested parties," Keith Kocher, the lottery's gaming facilities manager, told the commission this week. "We simply don't know who might be lying in wait out there."

The commission voted to extend the deadline to Jan. 15, 2010, if no application is received by the Monday deadline. It also voted to extend the deadline to April 16 if the January deadline isn't met.

Nobody has made a bid for the zone since Penn National Gaming pulled its plans for a casino in Cherokee County last year.

Reach Fred Mann at 316-268-6310 or fmann@wichitaeagle.com.