Newsletter #24
By: RICK ALM Staff Writer
Date: 12/16/96
If the Kansas Legislature refuses to allow slot machines at The Woodlands, the racetrack's de facto new owner will redevelop the 400-acre site for something else - but he isn't saying what or when.
A change in track ownership is the latest chapter in the slow-motion evolution of legalized gambling in Kansas, which someday could lead to a tribal-sponsored casino at The Woodlands site or even in downtown KansasCity, Kan.
Last week, the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission approved the purchase of $20 million worth of track mortgage debt by the newly formed Woodlands Racing and Gaming Co., headed by William M. Grace, who is principal owner of the St. Jo Frontier Casino in St. Joseph. That debt comes due June 1. If the financially troubled track is unable to meet its payment schedule at that time and has no prospects for slot machine revenues, Grace said he will foreclose on the notes. The notes he bought represent the bulk of The Woodlands' $28.7 million debt. He said he would attempt to keep the track open - for a while, at least - with the current management or others...
(NOTE: Purchase of this track was one option the Wyandotte Tribe of Oklahoma has stated they were exploring... Ish)Tribal casino option Another gambling option also faces an uncertain future.
Earlier this year the Oklahoma-based Wyandotte Tribe won federal approval to open a casino near the Huron Indian Cemetery in downtown Kansas City, Kan. But the Wyandot Nation of Kansas, which broke off from the Oklahoma tribe a century ago, opposes gambling near the cemetery.
So the Oklahoma tribe is using the federal approval as a bargaining chip with state and local officials and has been trying to forge a casino partnership at The Woodlands, 99th Street and Leavenworth Road. Chief Leaford Bearskin has said that the tribe's first choice for a casino site is at the racetrack. THE TRIBE'S HALF-ACRE LOCATION DOWNTOWN, AT SEVENTH STREET AND ANN AVENUE, APPEARS TOO SMALL FOR EXPANSION, IS HAMPERED BY A SCARCITY OF FREE PARKING and is across the street from City Hall and the Wyandotte County Courthouse.
(Capital's mine as this limitation has direct bearing on the only other property located adjacent to this parcel of land - the Wyandot Cemetery....Ish)Grace said Thursday he'd listen to a tribal proposal.
For now the casino issue is stalled in a Topeka federal court, where state officials and five Kansas tribes, including four with state approval to operate their own casinos, have sued to block the Oklahoma Wyandottes. ``We'd have preferred that everybody would have wanted to work with us,'' tribal attorney Paul Filzer said. ``Right now we're in a holding pattern. Once a federal court upholds the rights of the Wyandottes in downtown Kansas City, then we'll see what everybody wants to say. ''
Other federal court rulings this year have left it unclear whether the Wyandottes and other U.S. tribes with pending casino projects may proceed without additional approval from state governors and local authorities. Those issues may be resolved by Congress in 1997. Kansas competition Grace already has felt the pinch of competition from Indian casinos. The St. Jo Frontier Casino has seen its monthly revenue plummet since the May opening of the Kickapoo Indian reservation's Golden Eagle casino near Horton, less than an hour's drive to the west.
In October, the Prairie Band of Potawatomie Indians opened a temporary tribal casino about 25 miles north of Topeka while planning a permanent structure.
Rather than fight the emergence of tribal gaming, however, Grace is joining it. Another group he represents has entered into an agreement with the Iowa Tribe to manage its proposed Brown County, Kan., reservation casino that overlaps the St. Joseph and northwest Missouri markets.
Grace also is in a hotel partnership with an Arizona tribe that operates that state's first American Indian casino near Prescott. Now he is in a position to add The Woodlands to his holdings, whether as a gambling operation or not.
Topeka correspondent John Petterson contributed to this article.------------------------------------->
Darren Z. English / Chihoatenhwa denglish@sfo.com http://www.sfo.com/~denglish
Huron Indian Cemetery Preservation Site "CURSED BE THE VILLIAN THAT MOLEST THEIR GRAVES" Wyandot Nation of Kansas Remember... Custer was warned.
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