Kansas Star Casino, the state-run operation in Mulvane, Kansas, has been accused of making false promises by Wichita City Councilman Pete Meitzner. “I’m concerned that the casino in Mulvane was sold with the premise that all the events were going to be equine, horse- and animal-related events, and to this day there’s only been a couple of those. They continue to take shows. We have conventions here in Wichita, and they approach those conventions and ask them to come next year down there and so they’re kind of strip-mining from our stuff when it was sold as equine.”
Meitzner said he had been told that people who have held conventions in Wichita that Kansas Star Representatives contacted them about future business. Meitzner’s comments came during a council review of the recently concluded state legislative session, at which lawmakers considered but didn’t act on a proposal let the public vote again on allowing slots at the shuttered Wichita Greyhound Park.
Meitzner said Kansas Star can afford to sell concert and event tickets at lower prices than Wichita venues because the casino will make money from concert-goers who gamble before and after the event. He added the casino built a 300-room hotel and “they’re not doing that on horse shows and rodeos,” Meitzner said.
Dave Strow, vice president of corporate communications for Boyd Gaming, the Las Vegas-based company that operates Kansas Star, said Kansas Star never was billed as an equestrian-only venue. “From the very beginning, Kansas Star has been positioned as a multipurpose facility, capable of hosting a wide variety of events. When we book events at Kansas Star, whether they’re meetings, conventions or shows, we’re bringing new people into the area,” he said. Any concert or convention held at the casino benefits the entire south-central Kansas region, Wichita included, Strow stated.
He added the company does not use gambling revenue to sell tickets at lower prices than other venues. “We consider that entertainment business on a stand-alone basis and we are not assuming any direct benefit on the gaming side of the business. We are trying to make money on the events,” he said.
In answer to Meitzner’s claim that the company approaches organizers of conventions in Wichita to get their future business, Strow commented, “I don’t want to get into an argument on that point.”
Strow said the casino hosted 13 equestrian events in the past two years, seven in 2014 and six in 2015. Many of those were not listed on the casino’s online event calendar because there was no charge for admission, he said.
During the selection process to choose a casino operator, members of the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission expressed support for Kansas Star’s equestrian focus. A competing proposal near Wellington proposed an auto-racing emphasis. But Keith Kocher, director of gaming facilities for the state, noted Boyd Gaming officials said Kansas Star would offer more non-equestrian events. “I was at all of the presentations that were made to the review board, and I can say without a doubt they did not limit what they were going to do by way of entertainment and conventions to just equine. They definitely mentioned other types of entertainment,” he said.
Kocher added the casino’s main arena did not open until January 2015 and major horse shows are scheduled two to three years in advance.
