Feds OK Downstream Casino expansion into Kansas

Quapaw Tribe officials said Friday the National Indian Gaming Commission ruled Downstream Casino Resort could build on tribal land in southeast Kansas.

In the landmark decision, the commission said Quapaw’s land just across state lines in Cherokee County qualifies for gaming, according to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988. Downstream officials said they plan to expand the casino onto what is now part of its main parking lot.

"This federal opinion means that we can now go for it, and we will be the first to build and operate a casino in southeast Kansas," Quapaw Chairman John Berrey said in a news release.

The Quapaw Tribe that owns Downstream Casino is one of the few Indian tribes in the nation whose historic reservations are within the boundaries of more than one state, according to Oklahoma TV channel NewsOn6.com. The tribe’s land in Kansas is within an area of its original 1833 reservation known as the Quapaw Strip, and the federal gaming commission ruled it fell within the tribe’s “last recognized reservation” in another state.

Downstream plans to build a $15 million, 40,000-square-foot casino with 162 electronic gaming machines, a cigar lounge and a night club on the upper level. The expansion is slated to open in 2015.

Read more at NewsOn6.com.