Kansas Lottery Officials Make Moves for Expansions
Monday, May 3rd, 2010The state of Kansas is in the midst of debates over gambling expansion. Gambling within the state is available, without question. It has already brought in millions of dollars to the state and that is a welcomed difference in revenue than it was during the recession. Of course, the recession put a damper on all forms of revenue but gambling in particular took a hard hit. With little discretionary money and a heightened unemployment rate, it was hard for people to maintain their gambling activities. Most gambling activities came to a screeching halt and have yet to return to the levels they were prior to the recession.
That doesn’t mean that there aren’t changes in the world of gambling for Kansas. Operators of a casino to be located in Wyandotte County have already submitted their two initial payments to county officials. It’s a welcomed added revenue source for Wyandotte County officials who have been suffering a while now due to the recession. Counties all over the US are hurting for cash and looking to a new year of major cutbacks and postponement of plans for development. In particular, education, building and police expansion efforts are the most targeted aspects of budgets over the US territory. Each county is looking to come up with money-generating efforts and bringing in casinos is one of the most popular and viable options in today’s market.
Kansas has particularly been plagued over the years with developers who made plans to bring in casinos and then pulled out. Penn Hollywood Kansas and Speedway Development company are both corporations that have made inroads to build casinos in the area. They were turned down for development a few times in the past and it isn’t until recently that they officially partnered to come up with a viable project. Kansas Lottery regulators are excited about the move and are hoping that it will bring in revenue to the state. They also are focused on expanding the market and bringing it to a new level of profitability. It will take a few months, but hopefully regulators will see how lucrative gambling is and how it is able to turn the economy around.

