The Iowa legislature recently passed a bill to end greyhound racing at Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs, owned by Las Vegas-based Caesars Entertainment, on January 1, 2016. Dubuque Greyhound Park would stop operating under the management of Mystique Casino on November 1, 2014, but the track would remain open under the management of dog owners. The bill awaits Governor Terry Branstad’s signature.
Under the law, the two casinos can stop subsidizing dog racing, which cost a combined $10 million last year. Combined betting on greyhound races in Dubuque and Council Bluffs has dropped 97 percent, from $186 million in 1986 to $5.9 million in 2012. Attendance also has dramatically declined since the racetracks opened in the mid-1980s, due to competition from casinos, the economy and anti-dog racing awareness campaigns.
Mystique will pay $7 million and Horseshoe would pay $65 million into a fund totaling $72 million over seven years. Half of that money, $36 million, would be used for a retirement fund to pay owners and breeders who chose to quit racing and to set up no-kill adoption shelters to care for and find homes for the retired race dogs. The other $36 million would help the Iowa Greyhound Association lease the dog racing track in Dubuque.
The legislation also allows the greyhound association to negotiate with Iowa casinos to simulcast races. Simulcasting only is allowed at casinos that host live racing under present law.
State Senator Jeff Danielson, who managed the bill on the floor, said the measure deals in a “very thoughtful and responsible way” with the two casinos’ efforts to stop offering dog racing. The stakeholders, he said, reached a solution in an “elegant, simple way that can work going forward. The net takeaway is we’ve reduced by half the current footprint of dog racing, solved the economic and community concerns and without a dime of taxpayer money.”
According to GREY2K, a nonprofit anti-dog racing group, since 2001, 37 dog racing tracks have closed in the U.S. About 21 tracks remain open in seven states, with of those 12 in Florida. Industry estimates are that more than 2,000 dogs race or are training to race in Iowa.
Don Avenson of the Iowa Greyhound Association said the deal will help Iowa’s 50 greyhound farms, 300 owners and 29 kennels. He said the industry employs about 1,200 Iowans. “Dependent on those and all the other economic activity that revolves around this industry are small towns. They are in rural areas where people run these facilities with the lumber, hardware, veterinary services provided locally,” Avenson said.
Also in Iowa, although the Iowa Gaming and Racing Commission recently ordered the Argosy Sioux City riverboat to close by July 1, industry experts said it’s quite possible a judge could temporarily bar that ruling.
Officials at Penn National Gaming, Argosy’s owners, said they plan to ask the courts to stay the commission’s order. That would allow the riverboat ‘s 300-plus employees to remain on the job while the company pursues its ongoing litigation against the IRGC.
Gaming law expert I. Nelson Rose said the “odds are overwhelming the casino will be able to stay open,” at least until the conclusion of a judicial review case scheduled to begin September 26 in Des Moines. “There’s tremendous weight given to maintaining the status quo until you have a full trial. Imagine what would happen if the trial results show they shouldn’t have taken the license? What happens to all those people who have been thrown out of work for six months?”
Robert Jarvis, a professor at Nova Southeastern University Law Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said, “I think Penn National can pretty easily show that if it is forced to close on July 1, it will suffer irreparable injury, due to the loss of its skilled workforce, the possible need to move the ship and the difficulty of getting its customers back if it is later allowed to reopen.”
The IRGC intends to replace the Argosy with the $128.5 million land-based Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City, which is now being built downtown and will open in late summer. Bill Warner, chief executive officer and president of Sioux City Entertainment, developer of the Hard Rock, said plans for the property actually have improved. “I think we made it a little bit better. It’s still focused on being an entertainment destination with a casino, versus just a casino,” Warner said.
The Hard Rock will have a 30,000 square foot gaming floor with 850 slots and 20 table games, a 54-room hotel, three restaurants and an 800-seat entertainment venue called Anthem. Restaurants will include the Fuel American Grill, World Tour Buffet and Main & which also will feature an outdoor patio and a private dining room in the base of the signature six-story clock tower of the historic Battery Building, which has been incorporated into the facility.
In the hotel, every room will have at least one exposed brick wall and large arched window. “We’re going to allow the guests to have a feel of what the building was and be a great hotel experience at the same time,” Warner said. The hotel lobby will feature the original high ceilings and brick walls. A 30-foot glass atrium will serve as the hotel’s main entrance.
