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Investors bet on Dodge City casino

"But he and a large group of Wichita investors are betting heavily on a state-owned casino in Dodge City.

"...Joseph's company, Dodge City Resort and Gaming -- which plans to invest about $112 million in a resort casino -- will wage a duel of proposals with competitor Butler National Service Corp. of Olathe at a public hearing before the state's casino review board July 31.

"The board is scheduled to pick the winner in September.

"Dodge City offers a small, isolated casino market that never interested major players from Las Vegas like Harrah's or MGM, which went after Sumner County.

"But Joseph and his partners think Dodge City will work if everything goes right and if they can attract gamblers from farther than 100 miles away.

"...Investors in the project include former Wichita Mayor Bob Knight, media owner Larry Steckline and his wife, former Kansas Attorney General Carla Stovall Steckline.

"Jay Maxwell, president of Southfork Investment and creator of Internet provider Pixius Communications, is one of the principal partners with Joseph and Kenneth Mimmack, president and CEO of Ingenus Management and Consultants.

"Minnesota-based Ingenus would manage the casino. Ingenus developed the gaming operations of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma. Its chief operating officer, David Wirshing, was president of Fitzgerald's casinos in Nevada and Mississippi for three years.

"Other local investors include Todd Allam, president of VAL Energy; Dana Lies, former owner of a concrete company; Lies Investment; Vosburgh Properties; business owners Bradley and Carol Murray, and Bradley's brother, John Murray; and Joseph's son, Christopher, a Topeka attorney.

"...The group has put up a $5.5 million privilege fee as required by state law. It owns 281 acres in northeast Dodge City, including a mile of frontage along the north side of U.S. 50.

"It plans a $20 million temporary casino with 400 to 500 slot machines to open by May 1 in a 25,000-square-foot existing building.

"A $92.3 million permanent facility would open in June 2010, with more than 800 slots, 20 tables, a 125-room hotel, several restaurants, entertainment lounge and meeting and convention space, plus retail and commercial property fronting U.S. 50..."

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