The city council in Pittsburg, Kansas recently approved a resolution of intent and a petition from the Southeast Kansas Casino Group, which wants to build a casino, hotel and event center on a 200-acre site at U.S. Highway 69 and Kansas Highway 400 in Crawford County. Previously, Wichita native Phil Ruffin, owner of Las Vegas Treasure Island Hotel & Casino, partnered with the Quapaw Tribe’s Downstream Casino to open a casino, restaurant and event center at the former Camptown Greyhound Park, owned by Ruffin, in Frontenac. The Kansas Lottery Commission has set a December 19 deadline for developers to file applications for a casino in the new Southeast Kansas Gaming Zone.
Pittsburg City Manager Daron Hall said, “It’s very favorable for us, because this gives us two in the game. If it’s in the city of Pittsburg, then we’ll get sales tax for the city, of course room taxes, and we’d sell them water, which we have a lot of and we like to let people know that.” B.J. Harris, director of the Crawford County Convention and Visitors Bureau, added, “Obviously we’re excited about the opportunity to have a casino for travel and tourism, an attraction to bring people to Crawford County. We would support any proposal that would bring a casino here. I think it will be up to those developers to put together the best possible plan, and I have faith that the powers that be at the state level will make the decision that’s best for our community. I don’t have a bias one way or the other; if there were 20 applications, I’d support them all.”
Pittsburg Mayor Monica Murnan noted Southeast Kansas Casino Group requested annexation of its development land, located south of Pittsburg and owned by Frances J. McCurdy, Michele Holman and Peter Holman, so it could have city services, including water, sewer and fire protection. The Crawford County Commission has 30 days to respond to the resolution of intent approved by the city. Commissioners could consider an ordinance to grant annexation at its December 9 meeting.
Crawford County Economic Development Director Blake Benson said, “I think the goal would be just to have as many quality options in Crawford County for the state to consider as possible. It would be a considerable impact if Crawford County was awarded the casino bid in terms of travel and tourism.” Kyle Fleming, attorney for the developers, said the county’s comprehensive plan indicates it does want commercial development along U.S. Highway 69.
Southeast Kansas Group principals are Bruce Christenson and Nancy Seitz. Christenson is principal of Double Down Development Inc., which helped Peninsula Gaming develop and obtain state approval of Kansas Star Casino in Mulvane. He also is a principal in BHC Development, which owns and developed the land and building for Boot Hill Casino in Dodge City.
Seitz was instrumental in the site selection and acquisition of the Kansas Star Casino property and assisted in developing Boot Hill Casino. She said the Kansas legislature’s decision to lower the requirements for a casino in the Southeast Gaming Zone from $225 million to $50 million, and the privilege fee from $25 million to $5.5 million, encouraged her investment group to move forward with an application. “We’ve been watching this for a long time. When the Legislature passed their lowering of the investment requirements, we thought it was time to step up,” Seitz said.
She stated her group is working on environmental, traffic and market studies. “The location we feel is superior. When combined with the experience with two of the other three existing Kansas casinos, we think that is really helpful to getting a leg up in the competition. We’re familiar with the process,” Seitz said.
Quapaw Tribe spokesperson Alan Mauk said “Chairman John Berrey and everyone are working through the process. Their plans haven’t changed at all.” He added Ruffin and Downstream expect to meet or beat the state’s deadline. Regarding other applications, Ruffin had said in August he expected “three or four more” developers to apply for the Crawford County gaming license. Rumor has it another bid may come for a site in Cherokee County, but no details have emerged.
