Olympia Gaming turns eye to Kansas

Las Vegas-based Olympia Gaming is a partner with the Mohegan Indian Tribe of Connecticut and another developer to bid on a potential casino project in Kansas.

The group, which calls its project Legends Sun, will compete against Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Las Vegas-based Pinnacle Entertainment, and several other potential developers, for a single casino license in suburban Kansas City on the Kansas-Missouri border. A decision isn’t expected until the end of the year.

The Mohegan tribe operates the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut and a slot machine casino at a Pennsylvania racetrack. Olympia Gaming, the gaming division of Southern Highlands developer Olympia Group, has several potential casino projects in planning stages, including a proposed $1 billion casino near Southern Highlands.

Kansas is planning to add four Las Vegas-style casinos. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who asked the state’s attorney general to challenge the validity of the casino law, said the matter could be cleared up by July. The move was an attempt to pre-empt an expected challenge to the law’s constitutionality by gambling opponents.

Four months after holding elections, dealers at Wynn Las Vegas are negotiating a union contract with the casino. Negotiators for Wynn Las Vegas and New York-based Transport Workers Union of America have held five sessions since the dealers voted by a margin of 444-149 in May to unionize.

Greg Kamer, attorney for Wynn Las Vegas, said talks are proceeding with the next meeting scheduled for Oct. 23. The union effort was a reaction to a move last year by Wynn Las Vegas to add certain managers and casino supervisors to the dealers’ tip pool.

OK, Macau spellers, here’s looking at u. When Portugal controlled the southern China gaming enclave as a colony, it was known as Macao. But when the area was returned to Chinese rule as a Special Administrative Region in 1999, it became known as Macau.

Confusion sets in because some casino operators use the old Portuguese style. Las Vegas Sands Corp., for example, refers to its new $2.4 billion resort as Venetian Macao in press materials.

With gaming booming in Macau, there is bound to be a hiccup. A week ago, Shuffle Master announced that 47 slot machines operated by the company’s StarGames subsidiary were turned off by Macau gaming authorities.

A software glitch in one of StarGames’ machines at the Starworld casino caused a player to claim a jackpot. Gaming authorities determined there was a malfunction and she wasn’t entitled to the win.

The Inside Gaming column is compiled by Review-Journal gaming and tourism writers Howard Stutz, Benjamin Spillman and Arnold M. Knightly. Send your tips about the gaming and tourism industry to insidegaming@reviewjournal.com.