Many vehicles in the parking garage and the parking lots at the new Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway on Feb. 3 had Missouri license tags. There also were quite a few Kansas license tags. (Staff photo)

   A quick walk through the parking lots at the new Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway on opening day Feb. 3 showed that assumptions about it may be coming true. Quite a few Missouri license plates were spotted in the parking lots and on the road to the new $411 million casino in Kansas City, Kan.

   There were also quite a few Kansas license plates in the parking lots, not surprisingly.

   During discussion of the state-owned casino projects in Kansas, the fact that Kansas residents' gaming dollars were flowing unequally to Missouri was a major point in the casinos' approval by the Kansas Legislature.

   A 2008 study prepared by Wells Gaming Research for the Kansas Lottery Gaming Facility Review Board showed that Kansans in 2007 were spending $841 million on gaming but only $148 million of that amount went to Kansas, a loss of almost $700 million in the state.

   With casino expansions, the study predicted that $936 million would be spent in 2012 by Kansas residents, with $621 million going to Kansas, a loss of $316 million in the state. The prediction was that the new casinos could cut the outflow of funds to Missouri, Oklahoma and other states by half. 

   The study also predicted that $905 million in gaming spending would be coming from Missouri residents in 2012, with $837 million going to Missouri, a net outflow of $68 million in Missouri. That, if it comes true, would be a big change from 2007, when $839 million came from Missouri residents, and $1.009 billion went to Missouri, a $170 million difference in the plus column.

    Much has changed since the study, including one of the Kansas state casinos not being built in the southern part of the state, Kansas racetracks not offering slots, a downturn in the economy and discretionary spending, and other states' casinos going online. But some of the same expectations of recapturing Kansas money remain.

    There is also some considerable marketing of the new Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway going on to areas outside of Kansas City, Kan. Argosy casino customers in Missouri, owned by Penn National Gaming, one of the parent companies at the Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway, have reported recently receiving marketing information from the new casino in Kansas City, Kan.

Several vehicles with Missouri license plates were stopped in bumper-to-bumper traffic on Village West Parkway Feb. 3 leading to the new Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan. The new casino is in the distance, in back of the traffic sign on the right.