TOPEKA - Hearings have begun in the Shawnee County District Court in friendly lawsuit filed to argue the constitutionality of state-owned casinos.
Potential sites for the casinos under Senate Bill 66 are Ford County, Wyandotte County, Sumner County and Crawford or Cherokee Counties in gaming zones designated by the legislature.
Sumner County Economic Development Director Janis Hellard said the county’s attorney on the casino issue, David Cooper, has filed a brief in the lawsuit on behalf of both Sumner and Cherokee counties to support the legality of Senate Bill 66.
During a one-day hearing Tuesday before Shawnee County District Judge Charles Andrews, much of the discussion centered on whether the state literally would own the buildings, the fixtures and all of the physical components of the casinos.
To confirm the law's validity before investors put money into Kansas-run casinos, Attorney General Paul Morrison attacked the 2007 Kansas Expanded Lottery Act in a friendly lawsuit to create a legal controversy for the court to settle.
Defendants are the Kansas Lottery and Ed Van Petten, lottery executive director.
The law opening the door to state-owned casinos is being challenged primarily on the issue of whether the state really owns and operates the casinos as required by the state constitution even though a casino manager pays for everything and holds the title.
In arguments this week, Deputy Attorney General Michael Leitch said the Kansas Legislature is trying to own the proposed state-run casinos just because lawmakers say so, and that doesn't comply with the Kansas Constitution.
"The point is that the state has to own something and nowhere in the bill does it make clear how it does that," Leitch said.
Statements that the state owns the casinos are "just legislative decrees" issued just as Leitch did when he made the open-ended statement that he owned someone's house, he said.
That doesn't create ownership, Leitch said.
Dan Biles, lottery attorney, said the state owns and controls the ability to conduct gaming in Kansas. Biles contends a "lottery" long has been considered to be any game that includes the elements of consideration, prize and chance.
A state-run casino is an extension of the lottery, Biles said. It is no different from buying a lottery ticket from a convenience store clerk, he said, even though the store isn't state property and the clerk isn't a state employee.
State court was the first stop for the gambling challenge. Andrews said he would issue a written ruling in less than two months, but it is anticipated the Kansas Supreme Court ultimately will hear the case.
The issue for Andrews to consider is whether the Kansas Expanded Lottery Act violates the Kansas Constitution's limitations requiring the games of chance to be state-owned and -operated, Biles said.
The act doesn't say the state has to own real estate and other property in state-operated casinos, and the act should be found to be constitutional, he said.
In April, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius signed the act, legislation allowing casinos owned by the Kansas Lottery to be built in four zones. They are Ford County in the southwest, Wyandotte County in the northeast, either Cherokee or Crawford counties in the southeast, and Sedgwick or Sumner counties in south-central Kansas.
Kansas legislators also approved placement of at least 2,200 slot machines at horse or dog racing facilities in Frontenac, Wichita and Kansas City, Kan. However, Sedgwick County voters in August rejected construction of a resort casino in their county or adding slot machines to Wichita Greyhound Park.
Sumner County passed the gambling question and has the rights to the south-central Kansas casino construction. Of the remaining counties, all but Ford County either border Oklahoma or Missouri, and Cherokee County borders both.
Several applications to develop casinos in Sumner, Cherokee and Ford counties have been submitted to the Kansas Lottery Commission. All application deadlines expire by Dec. 31.
In 1986, voters rewrote the constitution to say the Legislature may provide for a state-owned and -operated lottery, which it did the following year.
Then, in 1994, the Supreme Court ruled the term "lottery" was broad enough to cover slot machines and other casino games.
Morrison and Petten weren't in the courtroom on Tuesday. |
