By DAVID A. SEATON
The Traveler
A new casino south of Ark City should open by next month, the casino's manager said recently.
Mario Hernandez said last week that the Native Lights Casino is getting final approvals from the National Indian Gaming Commission. The state of Oklahoma also must complete criminal background checks of casino workers, he said.
He hopes the Tonkawa-owned facility can open before March.
"We don't want to open up until we are on the right track and in compliance," Hernandez said.
The casino has been advertising for months on the radio in the Wichita area. The tribe also is running television advertisements and has erected billboards in Wichita to entice that large population to what could become a mini-Las Vegas between Arkansas City and Newkirk along U.S. 77.
The Kaw Nation east of Newkirk recently expanded its casino to add table games; the Pawnee Nation plans a huge casino-resort just west of the Tonkawa site, also on Indian-owned land.
Hernandez said getting the necessary approvals for running a water line underneath the Burlington Northern Santa Fe rail line took some time. The gaming commission is exhaustive in reviewing financial processes, he added.
"You have to track everything," he said. "There can be no shortages or overages of money."
The casino will have 550 to 700 machines and two tables each of black jack and poker, Hernandez said. There will be a concession area and a bar with six TVs. The casino hopes to have live entertainment Friday and Saturday nights.
"We have 10 to 15 people drive by here every day and ask, 'Are you open yet,'" he said.
Hernandez said he doesn't think Native Lights will compete directly with the much larger Pawnee Nation project. Tonkawa "will get the run off from it anyway," he said.
A Pawnee Tribe official said Tuesday that groundbreaking could occur in April with an opening in early 2007. The Pawnee are waiting on gaming commission approval to start construction, said Roger Foster, the tribe's development corporation manager.
"We're just waiting for the top dogs to sign off on it," he said.
Studies of the area have shown no environmental problems such as burial sites, or negative public comment that would hold up the project, he said.
The Pawnee plan a casino with 1,200 gaming machines, 24 table games and a 150-room hotel and three restaurants; a steakhouse, buffet and bar and grill. That's phase 1.
Phase 2 includes a golf course and event center and other projects if things go well, Foster said. Lakes Entertainment, which runs the televised World Poker Tour, has been hired to build the facility.
Phase 1 requires 1,200 jobs starting at roughly $7 an hour, Foster said, not including tips. The Pawnee tribe's estimated 3,000 members will have opportunities to work at the facility but Foster said he expects 90 percent of the workers to come from surrounding cities.
"Hopefully, everybody is thinking about growth," he said. "I know Ark City is."
The tribe also will continue talks with Arkansas City officials about the need for fire protection, Foster added.
Foster said he had heard about conceptual plans in Sumner County to bring an even larger casino development there. That would need legislative approval, however, unlike the tribal casinos in Oklahoma.
"It helps to get there first," Foster said. But "if you're afraid of competition in Indian gaming, you're going to be in trouble."
|
