Las Vegas billionaire businessman and Wichita, Kansas native Phil Ruffin wants to open the Woodlands racetrack in Wyandotte County, Kansas as a racino, which would require a change in state tax rates. But a group that calls itself Protect the Partnership, a coalition of local business and civic leaders and supporters of Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway, claim a tax change could negate the state’s contracts with current Kansas casino operators. The Woodlands also would require zoning approval, which Ruffin will pursue this month.
Last year State Senator Steve Fitzgerald sponsored a bill to lower the tax on slot machines at the Woodlands to the same rate as slots at casinos. That bill passed the Senate but not the House. However, Fitzgerald said a House bill has been introduced. He noted his constituents have told him they support reopening the Woodlands, which has been closed since 2008.
Fitzgerald said Protect the Partnership is concerned that “it will reduce the traffic over at Hollywood Casino. I think they’re wrong. I think it’s going to help them. I think it will draw more people to the area.”
Protect the Partnership, which ran a full-page ad in a recent Sunday Kansas City Star, said Ruffin’s desired changes to the 2007 Kansas Expanded Lottery Act would be a “massive tax break” that could lead to job cuts at Hollywood Casino and the loss of millions of dollars in state and local gaming tax revenues. The 2007 law allowed casinos in four “casino zones” and permitted horse and greyhound racetracks to offer slot machines.
On its website, Protect the Partnership noted racetrack operators would receive gaming licenses without competition or fees, whereas casino developers competed for the four licenses and were required to invest a minimum of $250 million.
The partnership to be protected, Kansas Entertainment , invested more than $300 million to open Hollywood Casino in 2012. One of four casinos located on the Missouri side of the Kansas City metro area, Hollywood Casino has increased revenue each year it has been open, and at least 85 percent of that revenue comes from slot machines.
Mike Taylor, spokesman for the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, said the Unified Government is negotiating with Ruffin’s development group. “We’re in negotiations and talking with them. So far they haven’t made a lot of commitments. What we don’t want is for them to open a track for 60 days and then to have a giant slot parlor open for 365 days a year that steals revenue from Hollywood Casino,” Taylor said.
Ruffin bought the former greyhound and horse racetrack, which opened in 1989, last summer. He said the Woodlands would not be profitable unless the legislature lowers tax rates. Ruffin also owns tracks in Wichita and Frontenac. He stated, “If slots don’t go through, it’s still a viable piece of ground. We buy ground all the time. It’s a business we know.”
