‘We got it done’: Kansas OKs gaming license for Golden Circle casino outside Wichita

The Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission cleared the way Thursday for Phil Ruffin to open a casino in the Wichita area, granting the billionaire casino mogul and Wichita native a major victory in a nearly two decade battle to put gambling machines inside the Wichita Greyhound Park.

The gaming commission on Thursday granted Ruffin’s Golden Circle casino the state’s only license to operate 1,000 historical horse racing machines.

The HHR machines look and play like slot machines — which voters rejected in Sedgwick County by a narrow margin a few months before Ruffin decided to close the greyhound park — but outcomes are based on random past horse races instead of randomly generated numbers.

“We are ecstatic with the news,” said Phil Ruffin Jr., who lives in Wichita and will be the general manager of Golden Circle when it opens. “We’ve been working to try to renovate and reopen Wichita Greyhound Park.”

The greyhound park near 77th Street North and Hydraulic has been closed since 2007. Under Ruffin’s plan, he will spend $128 million to renovate it into a three-floor casino called Golden Circle.

Golden Circle is expected to open in 14 months.

“It’s an iconic building,” Ruffin Jr. said. “It’s been there since 1989. There’s a lot of space in there. There’s a lot to do. We’re going to have restaurants and pizza by the slice and smoothies and all kinds of great food from our executive chef in Las Vegas, who’s going to come down and train our staff. We’re a long ways away. We’re about 14 months until open. And I want to be ahead of schedule and under budget. It’s a long row to hoe, and we’re really looking forward to it.”

But it wasn’t all smiles from the younger Ruffin on Thursday. He got emotional when talking about the years his family has spent trying to convince voters and lawmakers to allow gaming machines at the dog tracks.

“Jimmy Valvano said, ‘Don’t ever give up,’” he said, stifling tears, as he quoted a speech given by the legendary basketball coach, player and broadcaster while terminally ill with cancer. “Never give up. We never gave up. We got it done.”

First, the Wichita Greyhound Park will undergo a complete renovation that includes a new, massive country music bar called Gilley’s Dance Hall and Saloon, modeled after the famous Texas honky-tonk club featured in the hit film “Urban Cowboy,” starring John Travolta.

After Golden Circle opens, Ruffin plans to build a 110-bed hotel.

The Golden Circle proposal garnered letters of support from Kansas House Speaker and Wichita Republican Dan Hawkins, Sedgwick County Commission Chairman Pete Meitzner, Park City’s city council, former Sedgwick County Sheriff Mike Hill, former Wichita City Council member Sharon Fearey, and Paul Treadwell, who sought a license to add the machines at Towne West Square in Wichita but recently dropped out of the competition without explanation.

A business partner with former President Donald Trump in the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, Ruffin also owns Treasure Island and Circus Circus hotels and casinos in Las Vegas.

In August 2007, Sedgwick County voters rejected electronic gaming machines at the greyhound park by fewer than 250 votes. A separate vote to allow a casino in Sedgwick County failed with 56% of voters saying no. A 2014 law blocked voters from deciding on the issue again until 2032.

Last year, the Kansas Legislature passed a bill that re-opened the door. A 2022 Kansas law allowing sports betting also allowed the state gaming commission to award one license to operate 1,000 historical horse racing machines in Sedgwick County. Three groups initially submitted plans, but Treadwell’s group dropped out ahead of a three-day hearing process that ended Thursday.

The other remaining group — headed by Wichita developer George Laham and Boyd Gaming Inc. — was disqualified from the competition on the first day of hearings after the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission passed a policy that disallowed any entity from operating an HHR gambling facility and a gaming facility in the same gaming zone. Boyd Gaming owns the Kansas Star Casino in Mulvane.

In response to public comments and concerns, Ruffin Jr. said Golden Circle does not plan to bring back greyhound racing.

“There will not be any live racing conducted on that property,” he said. “No horse racing or dog racing.”

Plans call for a three-floor casino, with 1,000 HHR machines on the first floor, bars and televisions broadcasting live horse races on the second and third floors, along with dining options.

“There will be simulcast horse racing. There will be video walls and great restaurant options, a Gilley’s Dance Hall and Saloon with the Gilley’s All Star Band and line dancing and barbecue,” Ruffin said. “We’re just really looking forward to it; (we’ve) got a lot of work to do.”