Kansas Casino Situation In Chaos After Gaming Commission Cuts Jobs

The Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission has done nothing spectacular in their efforts to find developers for four state owned casinos. They have overseen a gruelingly slow process that resulted in three of their four choices pulling out of their contracts.

Now, at a time when clarity and swift action is needed, the Commission has decided to cut eleven of their employers out of the equation. The need for the cuts have occurred because the four casino projects are not proceeding as planned.

"These people (Racing Commission) have completely botched the process of bringing these casinos to Kansas. Now, they are firing people because the projects have not progressed. The reason these employees are losing their jobs is because of the incompetence of the Racing Commission,' said observer Tim Trinkett.

The payroll cost of the Commission is expected to drop by nearly fifty percent. Of the employees let go, many were positions that have put the state in the current situation of having only one casino project of the four moving forward.

Auditors, information technology and administration staff, and financial investigators are among the positions being eliminated. Instead of trying to fix the problems that have stalled the casino projects, the Commission is choosing to further slow the process of finding new developers for the three remaining casino contracts.

"With only the Dodge City casino project to open this year, there is not enough ongoing work to justify our current staffing levels. While it is painful to reach these conclusions, it would be irresponsible to the people of Kansas and to those we regulate not to make decisions that reflect current reality," said Stephen Martino, the Executive Director of the Commission.

Others are fuming over the job cuts. "It took them over a year to get the contracts the first time. With a reduced staff, who knows how long it will be now before we have expanded gambling," said Tyler Stewart, a resident of Wyandotte County, one of the locations of an eventual new casino.

January 6, 2009
Posted By Tom Jones
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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