Dodge City casino to open in December
Dodge City, Kan., is best known as the setting for the long-running television series “Gunsmoke.”
The town will soon be known for being home to Kansas’ first state-owned casino to open under a 2007 law that legalized casinos.
The Boot Hill Casino & Resort is expected to open by December with 575 slot machines and 10 table games. An expansion could take place in another two years.
Under the plan that was signed into law by then-Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, Kansas legislators approved four stand-alone casinos and three slot machine-only racetrack casinos that would be owned by the state. Operators would be brought in to build and manage the properties. Kansas does have four American Indian-owned casinos.
Initially, Kansas attracted some of Las Vegas’ leading casino operators, but many backed off, scared away by high taxes and financing issues.
Clark Stewart, chief executive officer of Butler National Corp., the Kansas Company building the Dodge City casino, said 27 percent of the gaming revenues would be shared with state and local governments.
"We’re at the top end, percentage-wise, of what we can do," he told The Associated Press.
Kansas legalized casinos to shore up the state’s sagging budget. Developers pay the state up-front fees and a percentage of the gaming revenues.