Judge sides with Potawatomi

Harrah’s Entertainment will run the new Kansas casinos near Wichita. This announcement came last week. However, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Tribe filed a lawsuit against the company stating Harrah’s broke the non-compete clause in the agreement.

Previously Harrah’s managed the tribe’s casino for ten years where they had imputed the customers’ information into a database for the casino. Harrah’s had managed the tribe’s casino for 10 years before the split. With Harrah’s opening a new casino nearby, the tribe is concerned that Harrah’s might use the customer database and steal the tribe’s customers. The non-compete clause was put in place for after Harrah’s and the tribe split and would be in place for 2 years.

A Kansas judge has quickly sided with the tribe and has also ordered an agreement from both parties in the next 30 days. As it stands now, Harrah’s is not allowed to use the data base. If the two sides cannot come to an agreement in the next 30 days, both parties must appear back in court for a permanent ruling by the judge.

Return to Kansas Casinos.