Racetrack owner wants casino open in time for NASCAR sprint cup series

Kansas Speedway officials say their new goal is to have the Hard Rock Casino open by October 2009, when NASCAR’s Sprint Cup series comes back to town, four months after the facility initially was expected to open.

Dan Houser, chief financial officer for International Speedway Corp., told analysts Thursday of the early October target for the first phase of the $705 million project.

“Race weekend is our goal, but at this point we think it’s prudent to not put any (date) in there,” Houser said.

Speedway officials told the Lottery Gaming Facility Review Board last month an interim casino was expected to open by June.

The speedway’s proposal narrowly beat out a rival plan, with a highlight being the casino’s location overlooking Turn 2 at the track.

Kansas Speedway President Jeff Boerger said June still is possible for the opening of the interim casino, which will have 2,000 slot machines and 75 table games.

He said Houser was being cautious in his report.

The entire project northwest of Interstates 70 and 435 eventually will be a 1.5 million-square-foot complex with 3,000 slots, 140 table games, a 300-room hotel and 275,000 square feet of dining and entertainment venues.

The state has a December deadline to sign off on the casino management deal, and International Speedway officials say a groundbreaking could happen in January or February.

International Speedway told analysts financing of the casino wasn’t a problem, even with the tight credit market. International Speedway and Baltimore-based Cordish Co. each would invest $40 million to $45 million into the initial construction phase, with their eventual equity shares of the project to be from 20 percent to 40 percent.

Boerger said the project would move quickly because utilities already are in place and not much site preparation work is required.

Houser told analysts the casino complex with its amenities would be on a much different level from competing riverboat casinos in Missouri.

“I think the guys on the other side of the river are worried about this,” Houser said. “We’re not worried about them.”