Iowa On line casino Moratorium to Raise, Clear Manner for Cedar Rapids Resort
New casinos may quickly come to Iowa after state senators opted to not lengthen a moratorium that had pumped the brakes on the Iowa Racing and Gaming Fee (IRGC) issuing new gaming licenses.
A rendering of the long-proposed Cedar Crossing on line casino in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The $250 million improvement has been resurrected after Iowa lawmakers opted to not lengthen a moratorium on new gaming licenses. (Picture: Peninsula Pacific Leisure)
The Iowa Legislature adjourned its 2024 session over the weekend with out extending the on line casino moratorium it initiated two years in the past. Home lawmakers voted 76-16 in favor of extending the gaming freeze one other 5 years by way of June 2029, however the Senate didn’t associate with the plan.
The Senate adjourned early Saturday morning with out voting on the on line casino moratorium extension. In consequence, the halt will expire efficient July 1 at 12:01 a.m. native time.
State Rep. Sami Scheetz (D-Cedar Rapids) celebrated the information. He was among the many Home minority who voted in opposition to the prolongment. Cedar Rapids, Iowa’s second most populated metropolis, has for years been pursuing a state gaming concession to no avail.
I’m thrilled that the proposed extension of the on line casino moratorium didn’t advance within the Iowa Legislature. This consequence is a major victory for Cedar Rapids, as we’ll now have the chance to make our case to the Iowa Racing and Gaming Fee,” Scheetz stated.
“Our neighborhood has waited patiently for the prospect to reinforce our financial panorama, and we’re able to current a compelling argument for why Cedar Rapids deserves this chance for development and revitalization,” Scheetz continued.
Cedar Rapids On line casino
A gaggle of roughly 80 native businesspeople concerned in an entity known as Cedar Rapids Improvement Group (CRDG) has been pursuing a on line casino improvement for over a decade. The IRGC in 2014 and 2017 rejected the group’s functions for a gaming resort, with state gaming regulators primarily voicing market saturation issues in rendering their selections.
After Nebraska voters licensed industrial playing by way of a statewide poll referendum permitting the Cornhusker State’s horse racetracks to turn out to be casinos, Iowa lawmakers signed off on the two-year moratorium. The statute was designed to guard Iowa’s present on line casino trade, which numbers 19 licensed casinos.
CRDG has the political backing of the Cedar Rapids authorities and its mayor Tiffany O’Donnell. Town handed a statute that lends the native authorities’s help for a on line casino constructed by CRDG by way of early October 2029.
Website Prepared
In anticipation of the moratorium being lifted this summer time, the Cedar Rapids Metropolis Council final July put aside about 25 acres of city-owned land for CRDG.
The property is situated simply north of Interstate 380 west of the Cedar River between F and I avenues and 1st and fifth streets NW. CRDG and its most well-liked gaming accomplice, Los Angeles-based Peninsula Pacific Leisure, paid Cedar Rapids $165,000 final summer time for the unique rights to buy the property anytime till Jan. 1, 2026. The acquisition value might be primarily based on the assessed truthful market worth of the lot.
CRDG plans to reignite its on line casino license pursuit as soon as the moratorium formally expires.
The 2022 blueprint proposed earlier than the moratorium handed — dubbed “Cedar Crossing” — steered a $250 million funding that includes a on line casino with round 1,000 slot machines and 60 desk video games, a number of eating places and bars, and a 1,500-seat live performance corridor.
PGA Tour star and Iowa native Zach Johnson, who has presumably misplaced some followers not too long ago for his dismal Ryder Cup captainship and a scandal through the Masters the place he seemingly yelled obscenities at patrons, was concerned within the 2022 presentation. The 2-time main winner was to open a sportsbook and taproom known as “The Clubhouse by Zach Johnson” on the Cedar Crossing vacation spot.
