A Las Vegas company is asking the state to let it compete for a contract to build and manage a casino in Dodge City, even though it missed last week's deadline for filing a proposal.
Epic Gaming has the support of the Ford County Commission in attempting to persuade the Kansas Lottery to review its application. But two other groups of Ford County applicants strongly object to the idea.
The Lottery Commission discussed the request Monday but postponed a decision until Jan. 7, so its staff could research whether it has the authority to extend a deadline after it has passed.
The deadline was 5 p.m. Wednesday. If Epic is successful, the commission will declare that the deadline was the following day, when Epic's proposal arrived.
Epic spokesman Doug Lawrence said the company had finished its application but mechanical problems prevented it from getting the application copied and delivered on time. Applications run up to 2,000 pages each, and the Kansas Lottery is requiring applicants to submit 20 copies.
"We physically had everything in hand at five o'clock," Lawrence told the commission. "Certainly, we could have had a full set there at 10 minutes after five."
The commission discussed Epic's proposal on the last day it had planned to accept any casino applications, for Wyandotte County only. The Lottery previously received three proposals for the Kansas City area, and it was expecting one or two more.
State law allows a single casino each in Ford, Sumner, Wyandotte and either Cherokee or Crawford counties. The deadline for southeast Kansas was Dec. 6, with one applicant. For Sumner County, it was Friday, and four proposals were submitted.
Under the law, the Lottery will own the new gambling but hire developers to build the casinos and manage their day-to-day operations. A seven-member state review board will determine which applicant gets the contract in each area.
Epic is proposing a $65 million complex in southeast Dodge City, along U.S. 56. Its casino would have 700 slot machines and 50 hotel rooms, and it expects a national hotel chain to build an additional 150 hotel rooms.
The company broke ground in June on a casino for the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma near Harrah, Okla. The firm's top executives have decades of experience in casino management, and Chief Executive Officer John Groom is the former president of Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas and the former CEO of Players International.
"We're just hoping they have a chance to have it considered," Lawrence said.
The Lottery already has applications from Butler National Service Corp., of Olathe, for a $65 million complex west of downtown, and Dodge City Resort and Gaming Co., for a $60.3 million complex in northeast Dodge City, along U.S. 50.
Stephen Joseph, an attorney for Dodge City Resort and Gaming, said in a letter to the Lottery Commission that allowing Epic into the competition would "jeopardize the validity of all future decisions" on the Dodge City casino.
Clint Patty, an attorney representing Butler National, said the process of accepting applications "has to stop somewhere."
"Printers break down, and computers go haywire," he said. "But that is why you have it done ahead of time and have it delivered by courier."
Commission member Joni Franklin, a Wichita attorney, opposed extending the deadline.
"I just have a real problem, especially when we're at the start of a process, of establishing these deadlines and not abiding by them," she said.
But the Ford County Commission said in a letter to the Lottery Commission on Friday that the community's -- and the state's -- interests are best served by greater competition.
Lottery Commission member Robert Van Cleave, an Overland Park attorney, said: "Our desire and intent is to get as many qualified applicants as possible."
But Lottery Commission member Robert Wunsch, a Kingman attorney and former Kansas House member, said it should review past court rulings on such issues before making a decision.
"I think we've got some real questions here that require some research," said commission Chairman Harold Nye, of Larned. |
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