Cherokee County Fights Back Against Penn National With Lawsuit

Penn National had a grand scheme. They put in the only bid for a casino in Cherokee County, Kansas, and felt that would help land them a casino contract in another Kansas County.

When Kansas awarded Harrah's Entertainment the casino contract in the other county, Penn national responded by pulling out of their contract in Cherokee. Now, the county has fought back and filed a lawsuit against the company.

The state awarded the Cherokee County contract to Penn National last month. Since then they have made the decision on Harrah's. This week, Penn National pulled out of the Cherokee deal.

They claim that they pulled out of the deal because they could not compete with a tribal casino that has since opened on the border of Oklahoma. They also sited not getting the other contract as a reason for pulling out.

Cherokee, in the lawsuit, claims they have a development agreement in place with Penn National and that the company is required to follow through with the contract and build the casino. They are seeking more than $52 million.

The money they are seeking is for property and sales tax and lost gaming taxes. The state would have owned the casino, but Penn National would have built and run the casino.

September 13, 2008
Posted By Tom Jones
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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