OK, so the STEM lab was unexpected.
Backers of a planned Cedar Crossing Casino in Cedar Rapids this week foretold of the exciting extras we’ll get if the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission grants a casino license. One feature is a STEM lab Linn County students can access for free/
So, a casino STEM Lab. It must be the first ever.
The lab will have a totally separate entrance, of course. No kids will smell like Marlboros and desperation when they get home from casino school.
The lab also will feature an Arts and Cultural Center, partnering with the National Geographic Society, and will serve as an instructional resource for kids. Maybe tomorrow’s math whizzes will learn how astronomically low your chance of winning in a gambling joint truly is. And never visit a casino again.
They’re hanging shiny ornaments all over this $250 million casino plan.
There’s the Clubhouse by Zach Johnson, a steak joint, and a smokehouse that will serve the Iowa Titan Tenderloin. Tempting? There would be a 1,500-seat entertainment venue. And, of course, there will be 700 slots and 22 table games.
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But the main event was the release of local casino investors’ own market study. It’s a preemptive strike ahead of two market studies commissioned by the Racing and Gaming Commission due in December. They will play a big role in Cedar Crossing’s chances.
According to the investors’ study, conducted by Convergence Strategy Group, Cedar Crossing would increase overall state gambling revenue by $80 million and draw more than 1.1 million customers each year.
Those big picture benefits, they argue, should outweigh worries about revenues a new casino would cannibalize from existing nearby facilities. The study says the Riverside Casino would lose 11.6% of its annual revenue to Cedar Crossing. The losses from Waterloo and Dubuque are in the single digits. The study used cellphone data to track customer ZIP codes.
New Nebraska casinos are cutting into Iowa revenues. The commission, they argue, should consider the whole pie, or tenderloin.
Studies by license applicants rarely move the commission. But the studies it pays for can make or break the best laid plans. Instead of statewide revenues, the commission has made shielding existing casinos from competition its priority.
One of its two studies will come from Minneapolis-based Marquette Advisors. This will be the third time Marquette has evaluated a Cedar Crossing application. Both previous efforts failed.
In 2014, Marquette estimated Cedar Crossing would get 73% of its revenue through cannibalization, mostly coming from Riverside. In 2017, Marquette estimated another Cedar Crossing plan on the river would get 45%, $38 million of its revenue, through cannibalization, including $22 million from Riverside.
Marquette concedes it’s been wrong in its cannibalization estimates. For example, its estimate on how much Wild Rose Casino in Greene County would take was too high.
Maybe Marquette’s cannibalization estimate will shrink again. And maybe math whizzes studying the casino market will have a soft spot for STEM.
(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com
www.thegazette.com
Backers of a planned Cedar Crossing Casino in Cedar Rapids this week foretold of the exciting extras we’ll get if the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission grants a casino license. One feature is a STEM lab Linn County students can access for free/
So, a casino STEM Lab. It must be the first ever.
The lab will have a totally separate entrance, of course. No kids will smell like Marlboros and desperation when they get home from casino school.
The lab also will feature an Arts and Cultural Center, partnering with the National Geographic Society, and will serve as an instructional resource for kids. Maybe tomorrow’s math whizzes will learn how astronomically low your chance of winning in a gambling joint truly is. And never visit a casino again.
They’re hanging shiny ornaments all over this $250 million casino plan.
There’s the Clubhouse by Zach Johnson, a steak joint, and a smokehouse that will serve the Iowa Titan Tenderloin. Tempting? There would be a 1,500-seat entertainment venue. And, of course, there will be 700 slots and 22 table games.
ADVERTISING
But the main event was the release of local casino investors’ own market study. It’s a preemptive strike ahead of two market studies commissioned by the Racing and Gaming Commission due in December. They will play a big role in Cedar Crossing’s chances.
According to the investors’ study, conducted by Convergence Strategy Group, Cedar Crossing would increase overall state gambling revenue by $80 million and draw more than 1.1 million customers each year.
Those big picture benefits, they argue, should outweigh worries about revenues a new casino would cannibalize from existing nearby facilities. The study says the Riverside Casino would lose 11.6% of its annual revenue to Cedar Crossing. The losses from Waterloo and Dubuque are in the single digits. The study used cellphone data to track customer ZIP codes.
New Nebraska casinos are cutting into Iowa revenues. The commission, they argue, should consider the whole pie, or tenderloin.
Studies by license applicants rarely move the commission. But the studies it pays for can make or break the best laid plans. Instead of statewide revenues, the commission has made shielding existing casinos from competition its priority.
One of its two studies will come from Minneapolis-based Marquette Advisors. This will be the third time Marquette has evaluated a Cedar Crossing application. Both previous efforts failed.
In 2014, Marquette estimated Cedar Crossing would get 73% of its revenue through cannibalization, mostly coming from Riverside. In 2017, Marquette estimated another Cedar Crossing plan on the river would get 45%, $38 million of its revenue, through cannibalization, including $22 million from Riverside.
Marquette concedes it’s been wrong in its cannibalization estimates. For example, its estimate on how much Wild Rose Casino in Greene County would take was too high.
Maybe Marquette’s cannibalization estimate will shrink again. And maybe math whizzes studying the casino market will have a soft spot for STEM.
(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com
Opinion: Will state casino regulators order up a Titan Tenderloin in Cedar Rapids?
A STEM lab for kids is included in the facility
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