here is legislation being discussed that would drop the minimum investment for a casino in either Crawford or Cherokee Counties. The original requirement was that a developer must invest at least us$ 225 million and also pay a us$ 25 million privilege fee. Penn National bit at both of those mandates, but after consideration decided it was too much of an investment.
Now, the State Affairs Committee, led by Chairman Melvin Neufeld, is drafting a Bill that could lower the developer requirements to only us$ 50 million. The privilege fee would be dropped to a mere us$ 5.5 million.
The state is also considering allowing the casino developer to keep more of the revenue generated. One of the biggest problems that Kansas is experiencing is the long process for reviewing applicants.
The new Bill would lower the ninety day waiting period for an applicant to be reviewed. The only downfall to the new legislation would be that it would once again re-open the issue of casino gambling in the state. Opponents who have resorted themselves to the idea that casino gambling expansion was happening, could have an about face and bring the issue back up for discussion.
