DATE: December 26, 2007
CONTACT: Sally Lunsford (785) 296-5708, sally.lunsford@kslottery.net

Application Deadline Passes for SW Gaming Zone

TOPEKA, KAN. – The deadline for groups to submit their applications to manage a state-owned casino in the Southwest Gaming Zone of Kansas has passed. The deadline for applications was 5 p.m., Wednesday, December 26, 2007.

The Kansas Lottery received two applications from groups interested in locating a casino in Ford County. Butler National Corporation submitted an application September 27, and submitted an amendment to its application Decenber 26. Also received at Lottery headquarters in Topeka on December 26 was an application from Dodge City Resort & Gaming Company.

The original deadline for the Southwest Gaming Zone was September 27, 2007. The Lottery Commission extended the deadline to December 26, 2007, at the request of Ford County and Dodge City.

The Lottery has 90 days, until March 25, 2008, to review the application and negotiate contracts with the two groups. The Lottery will then forward any contract that is negotiated to the Lottery Gaming Facility Review Board for its consideration.

The deadline for the Southwest Gaming Zone is the second of four deadlines this month. Applications to manage a state-owned casino in the Southeast Zone (Crawford and Cherokee counties) were due December 6; applications in the South Central Zone (Sumner Co.) are due December 28; and groups have until December 31 to submit applications for the Northeast Zone (Wyandotte Co.).