$87M Casino Gets Under Way in Historic Dodge City

Ground will officially be broken on Monday for the $87.5 million Boot Hill Casino and Resort in Dodge City, Kan., although construction is already under way. The developer is Butler National Service Corp., a subsidiary of Butler National Corp., in conjunction with BCH Development.Phase I of the development is scheduled for completion in December 2009. Butler National reported that a State of Kansas research study estimated the potential revenue from the casino, in highly rural southwestern Kansas, at $40 million to $60 million annually. The casino has been designed to evoke the 1880s era during which Dodge City, perhaps best known as the setting for the long-running TV drama Gunsmoke, was both famous as the “Queen of the Cow Towns” and notorious as the “Wickedest City in America.” The 1883 Dodge City War, though bloodless, embroiled famed gunfighters Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp and legendary Old West lawman Bill Tilghman. Today, Dodge City is sometimes called the meat packing capital of the U.S. and is home to one of the nation’s largest beef-processing plants. Butler National Corp., the parent company, is primarily an aerospace systems manufacturer, making components for civilian and military helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.