Gambling backers pitch bill for 3 state-owned casinos

Proponents of a bill that would provide three state-owned Indian casinos in Kansas, including one in Park City, are lobbying legislators to bring the bill up during the special session. The Senate last week rejected a casino bill, but backers of the Indian proposal have introduced their bill in the House. It would need both bodies to approve it. "I'ts the last gaming bill still able to be considered," said Gary Armentrout, chief development officer for Foxwoods Development Company, which would partner with the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska on the Park City project. The bill would grant the Kansas Lottery Commission three gaming licenses, one each for casinos in Wyandotte, Sedgwick and southeast Kansas. It would grant the state's four indigenous tribes management contracts to operate the casinos. Each of the tribes involved in the three casinos would pay $50 million up front, and thereafter share with the state 12 percent of the first $100 million in gross revenues and 22 percent for additional revenue. The House hasn't shown any willingness to take up gambling during the special session, and no hearings on the Indian bill are scheduled. But the bill's supporters say lawmakers are running out of time and options to fund schools with Friday's Kansas Supreme Court-ordered deadling looming. "We feel that sense of urgency," Armentrout said. --Fred Mann