Kansas Rebounds From Cordish Loss By Finalizing Dodge City Casino

The state of Kansas and casino gambling have gotten off to a rocky relationship. The state Racing and Gaming Commission has awarded three separate contracts to casino developers, only to watch them all eventually bail out of the projects.

Today, they may have finally received some good news. According to Butler National Corp., the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission has signed off on a deal for the company to develop a casino in Dodge City.

Butler National will now have the task of building a projected $87.5 million casino. The casino is expected to bring the state revenue annually of $40 to $60 million. The news today comes as a welcomed surprise to Kansas.

In the past several months, Sumner, Penn National, and Cordish have all pulled out of deals that would have had them operating state owned casinos in Kansas. Two of the three cited the current state of the economy as their reason.

The other developer, Penn National, reneged on their deal because they were afraid they could not compete with the product a neighboring casino was offering.

The Boot Hill Casino and Resort will be the name of the new facility. The end of 2009 is the projected opening date of the first phase of the casino. The second phase will take a bit longer, perhaps up to three years.

December 9, 2008
Posted By Terry Goodwin
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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