Tribal casino may be built on land near Wichita. It could cost Kansas millions in taxes.
Federal officials have cleared the path for a tribal casino to be built on land just north of Wichita, setting up a potential showdown between the state of Kansas, Sedgwick County and the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma.
The Wyandotte and others — including casino magnate Phil Ruffin and former Wichita Mayor Bob Knight — have been fighting to open a casino in Park City for decades, but legal challenges and voters have thwarted legal gambling in Sedgwick County.
The proposed casino would open just south of the Kansas Coliseum and the Greyhound Park race track, both now closed, in the area that was previously Wild West World, a failed amusement park that filed for bankruptcy two months after opening in 2007.
The Kansas Attorney General’s Office has repeatedly warned that opening a casino in Sedgwick County is illegal.
But the Bureau of Indian Affairs approved acquiring a little more than 10 acres of land in Park City “for gaming and other purposes” for the Wyandotte Nation, according to the federal register, reversing a 2014 decision not to allow the tribe to put the land into trust for a casino.
Chief Billy Friend of the Wyandotte Nation did not answer phone calls or messages Monday night. He told KAKE-TV that the tribe could break ground on a casino within 60 days.
He said the Indian Affairs decision would allow the planned casino to open with Class II games, which include bingo and certain card games like poker. But he wants to be able to offer Class III games, which include black jack, roulette and slot machines and require a compact with the state.
Beyond allowing gambling, moving the land to a federal trust for a tribe removes it from state and local tax rolls and exempts it from zoning regulations.
The undeveloped land where the casino would be built is southeast of I-135 and 77th Street North and is part of the Coliseum Center Addition. It is about 10 miles north of downtown Wichita.
The Wyandotte Nation also plans to develop around 100 acres of the Wild West World campus, Friend said, which was purchased through Grand River LLC, a company owned by the tribe.
Previous attempts
Efforts to site a casino in or near Park City go back 27 years, said Emil Bergquist, a Republican state legislator who previously served as Park City mayor and City Council member.
It began in 1993 when the Wyandotte Tribe bought the land where it now plans to place the casino, Bergquist said. City residents raised a petition against it and the tribe backed away from the plan, he said.
In 2004, the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska sought to put a casino on a nearby property, with former Wichita Mayor Bob Knight fronting for the project. That proposal was bounced around for several years but never built.
The last attempt, until now, came in 2007.
Phil Ruffin, owner of Wichita Greyhound Park, sought to convert that facility into a “racino,” which would have live dog racing and electronic casino games.
It looked like the plan was sure-fire when the Legislature passed a bill to allow casinos statewide.
But later that year, Sedgwick County residents voted down the racino plan, along with a companion proposal for a major destination casino in the county.
The dog track closed days after the vote and remains empty 13 years later.
Spurned by Sedgwick County voters, the state approved the Kansas Star Casino just across the county line in Mulvane.
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said in 2014 that after the Kansas Star opened, Kansas law forbids a tribal casino in Sedgwick County and that his office “will continue to vigorously defend our state’s legal interests” if another casino attempted to open.
A Park City tribal casino would certainly cut into the revenue generated at the Kansas Star, which is run by a private company but technically owned and operated by the state government, which takes a share of the profits.
An economic analysis referenced in a 2011 federal court filing found that Kansas could lose $23 million or more in tax revenue per year if the Wyandotte Nation were allowed to open a competing casino about 25 miles away.
“There’s only a certain amount of entertainment dollars to go around,” said Bergquist.
The state guaranteed the Kansas Star an exclusive market in south-central Kansas for 25 years — until 2032 — and the operating contract and size of the casino were based on that projection, Bergquist said. The state could end up paying the Kansas Star operators for any violation of their agreement.
Bergquist said Park City has done just fine without a casino so far.
“It’s been a healthy community through thick and thin,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any urgent need for a big fix for something that’s not broken and so far never has been broken.”
This story was originally published June 8, 2020 at 10:44 PM.
