Vicksburg will act as a conduit for a deal involving 155 acres of railroad right-of-way with the intention of getting a casino development going.

As another step in a behind-the-scenes process under way for more than a year, the transaction that will lead to transfer of the land from Kansas City Southern Railway to Lakes Gaming was approved in a special, called meeting Thursday.

&#8220This took a lot of negotiation,” Mayor Laurence Leyens said.

Leyens said his understanding was that Lakes would deposit $70,000 toward the total purchase price of about $1 million immediately for the land between U.S. 61 South and the Mississippi River and had a short amount of additional time to come up with the additional $930,000.

&#8220It’s kind of a put up or shut up deal right now,” Leyens said, adding that no city funds are involved except for the time the city’s legal staff has spent trying to bring the deal to fruition.

Other aspects are: