New casinos could presently come up to Iowa after nation senators opted not to offer a moratorium that had pumped the brakes on the Hawkeye State Racing and Gaming Commission (IRGC) issuing new gaming licenses.
The IA Legislature adjourned its 2024 session o'er the weekend without extending the gambling casino moratorium it initiated deuce years ago. House lawmakers voted 76-16 inward favour of extending the gaming freeze out another fivesome years through and through June 2029, but the Senate didn’t go away on with the plan.
The Senate adjourned too soon Saturday morning without voting on the cassino moratorium extension. As a result, the arrest testament expire efficient July 1 at 12:01 a.m. local time.
State Rep. Sami Scheetz (D-Cedar Rapids) famous the news. He was among the House minority who voted against the prolongment. Cedar Rapids, Iowa’s secondly to the highest degree populated city, has for years been pursuing a province gaming conceding to no avail.
I am thrilled that the proposed university extension of the casino moratorium did non pass on in the Hawkeye State Legislature. This outcome is a significant victory for Cedar Rapids, as we testament now get the chance to create our pillow slip to the Hawkeye State Racing and Gaming Commission,” Scheetz said.
“Our community has waited patiently for the chance to raise our economical landscape, and we are ready to nowadays a compelling statement for wherefore Cedar Rapids deserves this opportunity for growth and revitalization,” Scheetz continued.
Cedar Rapids Casino
A radical of roughly 80 local businesspeople involved inwards an entity called Cedar Rapids Development Group (CRDG) has been pursuing a casino developing for o'er a decade. The IRGC inward 2014 and 2017 rejected the group’s applications for a gaming resort, with tell gaming regulators in the first place voicing securities industry chroma concerns inward rendering their decisions.
After Cornhusker State voters authorized commercial message gambling through and through a statewide ballot referendum allowing the Cornhusker State’s horse racetracks to suit casinos, Hawkeye State lawmakers signed away on the two-year moratorium. The statute was designed to protect Iowa’s current casino industry, which numbers 19 licensed casinos.
CRDG has the political backup of the Cedar Rapids governance and its mayor Louis Comfort Tiffany O’Donnell. The city passed a statute that lends the local government’s living for a casino reinforced past CRDG through and through betimes Oct 2029.
Site Ready
In expectation of the moratorium being lifted this summer, the Cedar Rapids City Council utmost July band by most 25 acres of city-owned land for CRDG.
The holding is located just now N of Interstate 380 due west of the Cedar River between f and I avenues and 1st and 5th streets NW. CRDG and its preferred gaming partner, Los Angeles-based Peninsula Pacific Entertainment, paid Cedar Rapids $165,000 utmost summer for the sole(a) rights to purchase the prop anytime until Jan. 1, 2026. The purchase damage testament live based on the assessed fairish securities industry note value of the lot.
CRDG plans to reignite its cassino license pursuance one time the moratorium formally expires.
The 2022 blueprint proposed before the moratorium passed — dubbed “Cedar Crossing” — suggested a $250 billion investment funds featuring a cassino with around 1,000 one-armed bandit machines and 60 tabularise games, several restaurants and bars, and a 1,500-seat concert hall.
PGA Tour asterisk and Iowa native Zach Johnson, who has presumptively missed some fans latterly for his dismal Ryder Cup captaincy and a dirt during the Edgar Lee Masters where he seemingly yelled obscenities at patrons, was involved inwards the 2022 presentation. The two-time major victor was to clear a sportsbook and taproom called “The Clubhouse past Zach Johnson” at the Cedar Crossing destination.
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