By Roger McKinney

rmckinney@joplinglobe.com

GALENA, Kan. — Penn National Gaming on Thursday laid the blame for its withdrawal from Cherokee County with the Quapaw Tribe’s Downstream Casino Resort.

Company officials previously had said the decision was likely.

Eric Schippers, public affairs vice president for Penn National, said in a news release that the decision was made “following a lengthy and thorough review of our strategic options.” Penn National operated in the state as Kansas Penn Gaming.

Ed Van Petten, executive director of the Kansas Lottery, said the procedure for a state-owned casino in the southeast gaming zone, comprising Cherokee and Crawford counties, would restart. He said proposals would be sought from interested parties.

“Despite our best and continuing efforts to combat what we believe to be several fundamental flaws in the development process for the Quapaw Tribe’s Downstream Casino Resort, the $300 million facility opened on land directly adjacent to our site,” Schippers wrote in the news release. “While Oklahoma gets the economic development, Cherokee County gets to host its surface parking lot.”

Schippers said in a phone conversation that the tribal casino would have a two-year head start in establishing a customer base.

Downstream Casino Resort’s casino opened July 5, with the hotel scheduled to open in early November. It is west of Joplin, Mo., off Interstate 44.

Penn National planned its casino north of there, in Cherokee County. The company’s initial application called for a $295 million investment in a casino and hotel. It later received approval from the Kansas Lottery Commission for a scaled-back and phased-in project, with an initial investment of $125 million in the casino, and investments totaling $100 million in a hotel and other amenities over 12 years of the state contract.

Betrayal

“In the wake of Downstream’s rapid opening, rather than pack our bags and head home, we worked diligently to find a structure that still worked for Southeast Kansas and for our company,” Schippers wrote in the news release. That included a “southern strategy” that would have included a casino and hotel in Sumner County. The strategy didn’t impress the Kansas Lottery Gaming Facility Review Board, which last month approved Harrah’s Entertainment for the Sumner County casino.

State Rep. Doug Gatewood, D-Columbus, said he considers Penn National’s withdrawal as a betrayal.

“I absolutely do think they’ve left us hanging,” Gatewood said. “People in Cherokee County and the southeast zone worked hard on this. They’re turning their back on everything they’ve said. In my mind, it’s breach of contract.”

Gatewood said Penn National’s business decision is a mistake. He said if Penn National were to build a casino next to the tribal casino, they both would benefit. He used the example of casinos flourishing next to one another in Las Vegas, or a Wendy’s restaurant building next to a McDonald’s.