Construction started within hours of the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission’s vote of approval for the million Kansas Crossing Casino. The casino will be the fourth and final state-owned casino, to be located in Pittsburg in Crawford County in the state’s southeast gaming zone. Expected to open in June 2016, Kansas Crossing will create about 300 new jobs and feature slots, table games, a 100-room hotel, restaurant and 600-seat entertainment center.
Daron Hall, Pittsburg city manager, said Cherokee and Crawford counties plus the city of Pittsburg each could receive $300,000-$400,000 annually in casino tax revenues, representing 1 percent of gaming revenue. “We kind of spent our reserves down during the great recession, so we’re trying to catch up, probably $1 million behind. The fact that we’re looking at $300,000 to 00,000 a year, we could catch up theoretically in three years, rather than having to increase property taxes.”
Kansas Crossing developers also pledged $10,000 a year for the next 10 years to tourism organizations in southeast Kansas; $50,000 a year for tourism at Pittsburg State University’s new Bicknell Family Center for the Arts; and $400,000 a year for the Southeast Kansas Tech Education Center.
B.J. Harris, executive director of the Crawford County Convention & Visitors Bureau, said Kansas Crossing’s additional commitments “really set them apart as well, their commitment to the area financially. Not just what they were mandated to give, but what they’ve given above and beyond that. Jobs, tourists, visitors, the whole thing is just a huge deal for Crawford County and southeast Kansas.”
