Casino backers’ long-held dreams to build a gambling facility in Cedar Rapids stayed alive early Saturday after the Iowa Senate didn’t take up a five-year extension of a moratorium advanced by House lawmakers that would have blocked new casino licenses and tightened restrictions on new licenses awarded beyond 2029.
The gambling regulations were part of Senate File 2427 and would have again thwarted Cedar Rapids’ potential third try for a gaming facility near downtown. The House passed the amendment extending the pause in a 71-21 vote and advanced the final bill, 76-16. The Senate adjourned the legislative session without considering the measure.
The two-year pause lawmakers enacted in 2022 is slated to end come July. Now, Cedar Rapids will have to let the chips fall where they may.
Months before lawmakers in 2022 halted new casinos, the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission had set in motion the application process for a Linn County gaming license. The moratorium put the brakes on Cedar Rapids’ third attempt after the panel rejected licenses in 2014 and 2017.
The panel looked to take applications because voters in November 2021, for a second-consecutive time, passed the gaming referendum in Linn County, giving Cedar Rapids the ability to seek a license in perpetuity from the state commission.
But under the bill the House advanced Saturday, the number of state-licensed casinos would have been capped at 19 through June 30, 2029. Only counties with a license as of June 1, 2022 could have a license.
Once that pause expired, starting July 1, 2029, the commission would have had to issue a socioeconomic study on the impact of gambling on Iowans before issuing a new gambling location license.
The bill would have blocked the commission from issuing a new license for a new location that “would negatively impact an existing licensee” located in a county touching the Iowa border or a rural county with a population of less than 30,000.
Of Iowa’s 19 licensed casinos, that language applies to all except Prairie Meadows in Altoona and Isle Casino in Waterloo.
That means the commission would stave off competition to the casinos in Davenport and Riverside operated by Elite Casino Resorts, whose chief executive officer Dan Kehl has long argued a Cedar Rapids casino would “cannibalize” revenue from existing properties.
Cedar Rapids gaming interests have argued that while Iowa is increasingly competing with Nebraska for gaming revenues and Elite has expanded there, now is a prime time for a casino here.
Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell said the city was merely asking for the opportunity to apply for a gambling license that voters “overwhelmingly” wanted.
“We're not asking for any special treatment,” O’Donnell said. “We just want to push forward with our plans, so hopefully this means we can do that.”
While the two-year pause has been in effect, O’Donnell said this allowed extra time to ensure the potential casino reflects modern gaming. It would have expanded entertainment and sports betting opportunities while the popularity of online gambling threatens brick-and-mortar facilities.
“One of the challenges when the market is impeded, there's very little incentive for existing casinos to be innovative and evolve,” O’Donnell said. “And this new facility represents the way people game today. It is an entertainment facility that happens to have gaming inside.”
Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, chair of the House tax policy committee, who offered the amendment to a Department of Revenue policy bill, said the five-year extension lines up with when state regulators’ gaming study will be concluded.
“Which means this is the perfect time to press pause until after a new study comes out to show cannibalization, saturation, what the impact of new casinos might look like,” Kaufmann told The Gazette. “This moratorium matched up with conclusion of that study.”
Kaufmann said he feels there’s enough data that shows “a very real concern” a new casino would cannibalize revenues from existing casinos, “which has a real impact on Iowa workers” and state gaming revenues.
“This isn’t a last-day Hail Mary,” he said before the House debated his amendment. “This has been discussed every week of every month of session. I just felt that today, we finally reached the critical mass in the House to do this. And that will give the Senate the opportunity to see where they’re at.”
Rep. Sami Scheetz, D-Cedar Rapids, said during debate on the House floor that the city “has been denied that right and opportunity by this legislative body” to seek a license. He said it was wrong to file the amendment on an “irrelevant bill” in the legislative session’s final hours and this would effectively ban a casino in Cedar Rapids.
“Some of the same people who are building casinos in Nebraska are proposing or helping to propose pieces of this agenda,” Scheetz said. “Cedar Rapids has a right, as I said, to go through the process, just like 19 other casinos in this state have for the past two decades. This is an injustice on the second largest city in our state.”
After the Senate failed to take up the gambling regulations, Scheetz said in a statement “this outcome is a significant victory for Cedar Rapids, as we may now have the opportunity to make our case to the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission.”
“Our community has waited patiently for the chance to enhance our economic landscape, and we are ready to present a compelling argument for why Cedar Rapids deserves this opportunity for growth and revitalization,” Scheetz said.
The makeup of the five-member commission has largely stayed the same since 2022, so it’s possible the state regulators will take applications for a Linn County license again.
Since 2022, only one member has changed. Gov. Kim Reynolds appointed Alan Ostergren, a former Muscatine County prosecutor, to the panel in 2023. Ostergren is president and chief counsel for the Kirkwood Institute in Des Moines, a conservative public-interest law firm focusing on economic and property rights, constitutional governance and separation of powers.
Hoping the pause would sunset as planned, the Cedar Rapids City Council last year signed off on a deal to earmark land in the northwest quadrant near downtown for a potential casino, should state regulators eventually award a license. The agreement spans through Dec. 31, 2025 but could be extended if the commission is actively considering issuing a Linn County license.
The option-to-purchase agreement with the Cedar Rapids Development Group, an entity of mostly local investors, set aside city-owned property between F and I Avenue NW and First and Fifth Streets NW to be purchased and redeveloped into the Cedar Crossing Casino. This was the site of Cooper’s Mill before it was destroyed in the 2008 flood and later demolished.
www.thegazette.com
The gambling regulations were part of Senate File 2427 and would have again thwarted Cedar Rapids’ potential third try for a gaming facility near downtown. The House passed the amendment extending the pause in a 71-21 vote and advanced the final bill, 76-16. The Senate adjourned the legislative session without considering the measure.
The two-year pause lawmakers enacted in 2022 is slated to end come July. Now, Cedar Rapids will have to let the chips fall where they may.
Months before lawmakers in 2022 halted new casinos, the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission had set in motion the application process for a Linn County gaming license. The moratorium put the brakes on Cedar Rapids’ third attempt after the panel rejected licenses in 2014 and 2017.
The panel looked to take applications because voters in November 2021, for a second-consecutive time, passed the gaming referendum in Linn County, giving Cedar Rapids the ability to seek a license in perpetuity from the state commission.
But under the bill the House advanced Saturday, the number of state-licensed casinos would have been capped at 19 through June 30, 2029. Only counties with a license as of June 1, 2022 could have a license.
Once that pause expired, starting July 1, 2029, the commission would have had to issue a socioeconomic study on the impact of gambling on Iowans before issuing a new gambling location license.
The bill would have blocked the commission from issuing a new license for a new location that “would negatively impact an existing licensee” located in a county touching the Iowa border or a rural county with a population of less than 30,000.
Of Iowa’s 19 licensed casinos, that language applies to all except Prairie Meadows in Altoona and Isle Casino in Waterloo.
That means the commission would stave off competition to the casinos in Davenport and Riverside operated by Elite Casino Resorts, whose chief executive officer Dan Kehl has long argued a Cedar Rapids casino would “cannibalize” revenue from existing properties.
Cedar Rapids gaming interests have argued that while Iowa is increasingly competing with Nebraska for gaming revenues and Elite has expanded there, now is a prime time for a casino here.
Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell said the city was merely asking for the opportunity to apply for a gambling license that voters “overwhelmingly” wanted.
“We're not asking for any special treatment,” O’Donnell said. “We just want to push forward with our plans, so hopefully this means we can do that.”
While the two-year pause has been in effect, O’Donnell said this allowed extra time to ensure the potential casino reflects modern gaming. It would have expanded entertainment and sports betting opportunities while the popularity of online gambling threatens brick-and-mortar facilities.
“One of the challenges when the market is impeded, there's very little incentive for existing casinos to be innovative and evolve,” O’Donnell said. “And this new facility represents the way people game today. It is an entertainment facility that happens to have gaming inside.”
‘Perfect time to press pause’
Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, chair of the House tax policy committee, who offered the amendment to a Department of Revenue policy bill, said the five-year extension lines up with when state regulators’ gaming study will be concluded.
“Which means this is the perfect time to press pause until after a new study comes out to show cannibalization, saturation, what the impact of new casinos might look like,” Kaufmann told The Gazette. “This moratorium matched up with conclusion of that study.”
Kaufmann said he feels there’s enough data that shows “a very real concern” a new casino would cannibalize revenues from existing casinos, “which has a real impact on Iowa workers” and state gaming revenues.
“This isn’t a last-day Hail Mary,” he said before the House debated his amendment. “This has been discussed every week of every month of session. I just felt that today, we finally reached the critical mass in the House to do this. And that will give the Senate the opportunity to see where they’re at.”
Rep. Sami Scheetz, D-Cedar Rapids, said during debate on the House floor that the city “has been denied that right and opportunity by this legislative body” to seek a license. He said it was wrong to file the amendment on an “irrelevant bill” in the legislative session’s final hours and this would effectively ban a casino in Cedar Rapids.
“Some of the same people who are building casinos in Nebraska are proposing or helping to propose pieces of this agenda,” Scheetz said. “Cedar Rapids has a right, as I said, to go through the process, just like 19 other casinos in this state have for the past two decades. This is an injustice on the second largest city in our state.”
After the Senate failed to take up the gambling regulations, Scheetz said in a statement “this outcome is a significant victory for Cedar Rapids, as we may now have the opportunity to make our case to the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission.”
“Our community has waited patiently for the chance to enhance our economic landscape, and we are ready to present a compelling argument for why Cedar Rapids deserves this opportunity for growth and revitalization,” Scheetz said.
The makeup of the five-member commission has largely stayed the same since 2022, so it’s possible the state regulators will take applications for a Linn County license again.
Since 2022, only one member has changed. Gov. Kim Reynolds appointed Alan Ostergren, a former Muscatine County prosecutor, to the panel in 2023. Ostergren is president and chief counsel for the Kirkwood Institute in Des Moines, a conservative public-interest law firm focusing on economic and property rights, constitutional governance and separation of powers.
Casino backers have Cedar Rapids plans
Hoping the pause would sunset as planned, the Cedar Rapids City Council last year signed off on a deal to earmark land in the northwest quadrant near downtown for a potential casino, should state regulators eventually award a license. The agreement spans through Dec. 31, 2025 but could be extended if the commission is actively considering issuing a Linn County license.
The option-to-purchase agreement with the Cedar Rapids Development Group, an entity of mostly local investors, set aside city-owned property between F and I Avenue NW and First and Fifth Streets NW to be purchased and redeveloped into the Cedar Crossing Casino. This was the site of Cooper’s Mill before it was destroyed in the 2008 flood and later demolished.
Iowa Senate doesn’t extend pause on new casinos, opening door for C.R. to seek license
Casino backers’ long-held dreams to build a gambling facility in Cedar Rapids stayed alive early Saturday after the Iowa Senate did not take up a five-year extension of a moratorium advanced by House lawmakers that would have blocked new casino licenses.
www.thegazette.com
