Casino competitors Dan Kehl and Rodney Blackwell will work together on a .5 million hotel, waterpark and performance center project to complement a land-based casino in Davenport, Iowa. Kehl’s company, Scott County Casino LLC, is hoping to develop a 0 million casino and 95-room hotel, adjacent to a proposed reinvestment district where Blackwell’s group proposed a casino last year. The city of Davenport already applied for .5 million in state funds for the project.
Kehl said, “I don’t really see a downside to it. It actually fits nicely with what we are trying to do.” Blackwell said he thought a project that brings retail, hotels and a casino into proximity of one another would benefit both parties.
In Dubuque, the city council approved a bus-fare increase of 50 cents per ride to offset a 20 percent drop in revenue from the city-owned Mystique Casino since 2008. Dubuque City Manager Mike Van Milligan said raising bus fares, which had not increased since 1986, offered one way to address the city’s $2.9 million budget deficit. “It’s been a very difficult winter. The gaming taxes and fees are down. But also there’s increased competition,” he said.
And in the state capitol, Senate Democratic Leader Mike Grons told casinos in Council Bluffs and Dubuque and greyhound racing industry officials, “In the strongest possible ways I have said to both sides in this discussion: ‘It behooves you to find a resolution this year,’” to reach a deal that will end dog racing and provide a temporary pay-out to the dog owners. House Speaker Kraig Paulsen added that was “absolutely” his message too. “We would like to see the interested parties, that is the greyhound breeders and racers and the casinos, work out a proposal and something to resolute this situation,” Paulsen said.
The casinos, which provided $10 million last year to subsidize dog racing, want the tracks to close. A bill that has passed a House committee would require casinos to pay the racing industry $70 million over six years to end racing.
But the Iowa Greyhound Association recently proposed ending dog racing in Dubuque and Council Bluffs, then opening a new dog track racino somewhere else. Senate President Pam Jochum said, “It’s a little harder lift, I will say that. Some people view that as an expansion of gambling. It has certainly entered into the mix and it is currently part of the on-going discussion between all of the parties.”
