Posted on: August 5, 2024, 10:30h.
Last updated on: August 5, 2024, 10:30h.
A proposed casino in Iowa’s Cedar Rapids continues to garner support from state lawmakers and county officials.
The Cedar Rapids Development Group (CRDG) consists of local businesspeople who for more than a decade have sought a state-issued gaming license. CRDG is partnered with Peninsula Pacific Entertainment (P2E), a Los Angeles-based gaming developer and operator, on a proposed $250 million resort project called Cedar Crossing.
The plan recently gained the backing of the City of Cedar Rapids, Marion City Council, and Linn County Board of Supervisors. Marion is part of the Cedar Rapids metro and neighbors Iowa’s second-most populated city. Cedar Rapids is the county seat of Linn County.
“The casino will contribute to our economic diversity by creating quality jobs, including full-time, construction, and other indirectly related jobs,” said Cedar Rapids Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell (R). “Anchoring redevelopment on the west side of the Cedar River, the casino will further aid our recovery from the 2008 flood, including flood control measures, and generating significant property tax revenue in a location which has been off the tax roll since the flood.”
O’Donnell believes the casino will keep gaming money in Cedar Rapids that’s currently flowing to casinos in other parts of the state or neighboring jurisdictions.
Support Growing
The mayor’s comments echo those of the Linn County Board of Supervisors in its letter encouraging the Iowa Racing & Gaming Commission (IRGC) to embrace a casino in Cedar Rapids.
A casino in Cedar Rapids has the broad-based support of business, labor, nonprofits, local governments, and residents in Linn County as demonstrated by the successful passage of two separate gaming referendums in 2013 and 2021,” the Linn County letter read. “Now is the ideal time to approve a casino in Cedar Rapids that will strengthen and enhance economic activity and tourism and provide numerous and diverse benefits for Linn County residents and visitors.”
State lawmakers representing Linn County and the surrounding areas are also continuing to get behind the Cedar Crossing idea. A bipartisan group of 10 state senators and representatives recently wrote the IRGC issuing their support of the casino.
The proposed Cedar Crossing Casino project represents a $250 million investment, backed by dozens of local investors, that will increase tourism to Iowa,” the lawmakers’ letter read.
CRDG, through its charitable arm, the Linn County Gaming Association, has pledged to direct 8% of its annual gross gaming revenue to charity — more than double Iowa’s 3% mandated minimum.
“This percentage, more than double the statutory requirement, will provide an estimated $5 million to $7 million annually, benefiting community organizations throughout our region,” the lawmakers continued.
Longtime Coming
Cedar Rapids voters in both 2013 and 2021 passed local referendums lending public support to a casino. Local referendums are needed in Iowa for the IRGC to consider and approve casino bids.
The IRGC previously declined to license a Cedar Rapids casino on market saturation concerns. And at the request of Iowa’s current casinos, state lawmakers in 2022 passed a moratorium on new casino licenses for two years, a temporary prohibition that expired at the end of June.
While Iowa’s operational casinos continue to contend that more competition will hurt their businesses and lead to job layoffs, the IRGC is commissioning a study on the feasibility of allowing a casino in Cedar Rapids.
