Penn, Speedway Join Forces To Push KC-area Casino

JOHN HANNA

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Speedway and a competitor announced Thursday that they are joining forces to push a single proposal for a state-owned casino overlooking a turn at the NASCAR track in Kansas City.

Penn National Gaming Inc., of Wyomissing, Pa., has agreed to buy a 50 percent interest in the speedway casino project from The Cordish Co., of Baltimore. Neither Penn nor Cordish disclosed the sale terms.

Cordish and Kansas Speedway's parent, International Speedway Corp., had proposed a $521 million casino-and-hotel complex at the track. Penn had pursued a $539 million casino-and-hotel complex near the NASCAR track but expects to drop that plan. A 2007 state law expanding legalized gambling allows only one state-owned casino in Wyandotte County.

The speedway-Penn partnership would build and manage the casino for the Kansas Lottery. The state, through the lottery, will own the rights to the gambling, control the computer software and have authority to overrule management decisions.

A state casino review board had scheduled hearings on the competing plans for next week and said it would pick a proposal in early December. ISC and Penn still need its approval, as well as consent from the Lottery and Wyandotte County officials.