Kansas attorney general Derek Schmidt said Monday his office has filed a lawsuit in federal court to block a proposed casino project by the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma. The casino is proposed for tribal land near Park City.
Schmidt said the state is asking federal court to set aside a decision by the U.S. Department of the Interior that would allow the tribe to build and operate the casino. Schmidt said the state was actively involved in previous discussions about allowing casino gaming on the land, but the state was not told that further discussions were underway between the tribe and Interior officials, and the state was not informed that the department was considering reversing its position. Schmidt said the state learned about recent developments from news reports.
An announcement from the Interior Department in May reversed a previous decision from 2014, in which the department had rejected the tribe’s request to build a casino on the land.
Kansas law prohibits casino gambling at the Park City location, so the tribal casino can only be built if federal law overrides the state prohibition. Kansas has strongly defended its stand against the casino.
Sumner County and the city of Mulvane have joined the state in the lawsuit. They are home to the Kansas Star casino, which is the only casino authorized by state law in south central Kansas. The Iowa Tribe of Kansas and the Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri have also joined the lawsuit.
