Final casino approval next week

Kansas Racing and Gaming Commissioners are set to decide whether to formally approve the $705 million Hard Rock Hotel and Casino proposal at the Kansas Speedway next Friday during a meeting in Topeka.

The move is the last official step in a 14-month selection process that started in 2007 when six developers submitted seven casino proposals to Unified Government and City of Edwardsville officials.

Prior to next Friday’s meeting, the most recent action took place in September, when the Kansas Lottery Gaming Facility Review Board selected the Hard Rock proposal over the two other finalists – Edwardsville’s Golden Gaming and Kansas City, Kan.’s Legends Sun.

Since the review board finished its work in September, outside consultants and KRGC staff have been combing through the financial and criminal backgrounds of the applicants associated with the proposals selected by the review board.

Earlier this fall, a KRGC spokesman said the background efforts had been going well and anticipated they would be complete prior to next week’s meeting.

But the gaming landscape since that September meeting has changed dramatically.
The downturn in the national economy has started to affect the gaming industry, and gaming companies are responding with reports of declining revenue and the cancellation of expansion projects.

Earlier in November, the state’s other highest-profile casino zone – south of Wichita – lost its casino developer when Harrah’s Entertainment announced it would abandon its $505 million proposal slated for Mulvane, Kan.

Also this fall, Penn National Gaming, which had proposed a hotel and casino development for southeast Kansas, dropped out of the running, noting the level of competition in the area, which includes a number of Native American owned casinos in northeast Oklahoma, made the cost of entering the market prohibitively expensive.

The departure of the developers in the Southeast and South Central zones leaves Kansas only two applicants out the original final four – the Hard Rock proposal in Wyandotte County and the Boot Hill Gaming proposal for Dodge City.

The economic winds that battered and sunk the developments from Harrah’s and Penn National are also affecting at least one of the two partners involved in the Hard Rock proposal – International Speedway Corporation.

The company, which operates NASCAR racetracks throughout the country, announced earlier this month that it would take a number of steps to reduce costs next season, including prohibiting teams from practicing at NASCAR-owned tracks during non-race weeks.

Despite that dicey economic outlook, ISC officials have said they remain committed to the Hard Rock project, a commitment echoed by officials with the other partner in the project, the Cordish Company.

The Hard Rock proposal calls for the construction and summer 2009 opening of a temporary casino. Those plans were put in place to allow the state – and the two partners in the project – to start capitalizing sooner.

But any construction plans, whether they are related to the temporary building or plans for the final project, have to be approved by UG planning officials.

Last week, the UG’s Planning Director Rob Richardson reported that his department has received site-grading plans for the entire project, but that his staff is still awaiting the submission of detailed plans for either the temporary casino or the entire project. Those plans require approval before construction can officially begin.