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Ruffin ends effort to reopen Camptown

Eagle staff and news services

FRONTENAC - Camptown Greyhound Park owner Phil Ruffin has ended negotiations with the Kansas Lottery that would reopen the racetrack with slot machines, the Lottery Commission says.

Lottery Commission spokeswoman Sally Lunsford said Ruffin left the bargaining table on Friday.

"They don't feel it's a good investment," Lunsford said.

No one with Ruffin Cos. could be reached for comment Saturday.

Camptown has been closed since 2000. Ruffin had proposed a $25 million-plus upgrade and expansion to the track to become a so-called "racino," with 600 electronic games, a Gilley's Bar and Grill, and other food and drink offerings.

Ruffin also closed Wichita Greyhound Park in Park City last August after Sedgwick County voters voted down slots at that racetrack.

The vote came under a law enacted last year that also allows four state-owned casinos and slots at Camptown and at the Woodlands dog and horse racing park in Kansas City, Kan. The Lottery is negotiating contracts with a dozen applicants to run the state-owned casinos.

The law requires that 40 percent of revenue from the electronic games at the tracks go to the state. Two percent would go to Crawford County and 1 percent to neighboring Cherokee County.

Contributing: Associated Press, Eagle staff