By Roger McKinney

rmckinney@joplinglobe.com

Penn National Gaming wants to add a casino in Sumner County, Kan., to its proposal for a casino in Cherokee County, Kan.

The company has filed an application with the Kansas Lottery Commission to operate a $365 million state-owned casino and hotel near Wellington, south of Wichita, in south-central Kansas.

The company in August submitted its application to the Lottery Commission for a $295 million hotel and casino in Cherokee County, off Exit 1 to Interstate 44.

“We are very capable financially of doing both,” said Richard Klemp, vice president for government relations with Penn National. “We will do a first-class job on both and would love to have the chance to do it.”

It is yet to be determined whether Penn National will have competition for a state-owned casino in the gambling zone that takes in Cherokee and Crawford counties. The company knows it has competition in Sumner County.

The Associated Press reported that four groups, including Penn National, will present proposals to the Sumner County Commission on Dec. 12, seeking the commission’s endorsement. The commission is expected to endorse more than one proposal, said Janis Hellard, the county’s director of economic development.

The others are the Binion Family Trust in Las Vegas; Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. and a group of Topeka investors; and a group that includes Foxwoods Development Co. and MGM Mirage. The state will select only one proposal in Sumner County.

The deadline for the state to receive applications to manage a state-owned casino in the zone that takes in Cherokee and Crawford counties is next Thursday. Crawford County interests succeeded in persuading the Lottery Commission to extend the application deadline by 90 days, a move that was opposed by Penn National and Cherokee County officials.

Wichita attorney Stephen Joseph made the case for the delay before the Lottery Commission in August. He had written to the commission before the meeting, stating that he represented Heart of the Balkans Gaming Co., a Kansas limited liability company. He wrote that Heart of the Balkans was associated with the Milan Group, which he said was a multinational conglomerate based in Toronto, Canada. He wrote that its holdings include Forbes-Hutton Financial Corp., which is involved in financing casino projects.

“Although the identity of our development and management affiliate is known to some Crawford County officials and the company’s representatives have met with at least one of those officials, officers of that company have asked us not to publicly identify the company at this stage beyond saying that the company has developed and manages several casinos in the United States and in other countries,” Joseph wrote in his Aug. 14 letter to the Lottery Commission.

Crawford County Commissioner Ralph McGeorge, of Pittsburg, said he was not among the county officials who were made aware of any discussion. He said he has heard nothing about a Crawford County project since the August meeting of the Lottery Commission.

“I haven’t heard anything,” McGeorge said. “It’s kind of surprising. It seems like it has died.”

McGeorge said he was hopeful when the delay was granted to give Crawford County interests more time for their application. The Crawford County Commission supported the 90-day extension in the deadline.

“We never have been in competition with Cherokee County,” McGeorge said. “We thought the state would benefit more if it was built in Crawford County.”

He said he thinks the state will benefit whether the casino is built in Crawford County or Cherokee County.

“I guess it was just wishful thinking,” McGeorge said of talk of a Crawford County casino application.

Joseph did not return calls seeking comment on Thursday.

Wichita Greyhound Park Inc. is planning a $25 million upgrade and expansion of the Camptown Greyhound Park in Frontenac with 600 slot machines. A grand opening is planned for May 2008.

Joseph wrote in his Aug. 14 letter that Heart of the Balkans Gaming Co. had an option to buy 160 acres for a casino near Camptown Greyhound Park.

Bill Shea, executive vice president of Ruffin Cos., owner of Wichita Greyhound Park Inc., said it would be up to the developers if a destination casino were to be built near Camptown. He said he would prefer that it doesn’t happen.

“I’d love to have no competition, ever,” Shea said. He added that Camptown will be a first-class operation and will have the ability to compete with anything built next to it.

If the state were to approve Penn National’s Cherokee County application, the casino would be competing with Downstream Casino Resort, a casino and hotel complex that the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma is building near the proposed Penn National site.





Change of plans



Penn National Gaming announced Thursday that it would not proceed with a proposed acquisition of Rosecroft Raceway in Fort Washington, Md. A law authorizing 15,000 slot machines at five locations around the state excluded Rosecroft Raceway.