Kansas City News Blog

Sure, its tap water might cause cancer, but at least the Kickapoo Indian tribe finally has some good news. Thanks to Wyandotte County residents’ overwhelming support in Tuesday’s vote to allow expanded gambling operations, the tribe can finally start work toward building a brand-new casino.

The Kickapoo already have gaming experience with its reservation’s Golden Eagle Casino, and the tribe purchased an 80-acre tract of land adjacent to the Kansas Speedway-West Village development in 2004, planning to build another casino in Wyandotte County.

The tribe issued a statement Wednesday announcing it had hired architects, a construction company, financial advisers, attorneys and civil engineers to help prepare a proposal. “Voters have confirmed what we have known for over a decade. Gaming is an entertaining and viable industry with substantial revenue opportunity for our communities,” slotmeister Steve Cadue wrote in the statement. Cadue is the Kickapoo Tribe’s chairman, who, when we wrote about him in April, blamed “white man’s greed” for the Kickapoo’s water problems. His tribe will most likely get a chance to take advantage of that now. – Peter Rugg