Cedar Rapids, Iowa, may get a third shot at a casino, since the state Senate did not take up a 5-year extension of a moratorium to block new casino licenses until 2029.
The House passed an amendment to Senate File 2427, extending the 2-year break lawmakers enacted in 2020, set to end in July. However, Senators adjourned the legislative session without considering the bill, which would have limited gaming licenses to Iowa’s existing 19 casinos.
Cedar Rapids Development Group, a consortium of 80 local business people, have advanced a proposal for a casino for a decade. However, those plans were thwarted by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission in 2014 and 2017, due to concerns about oversaturation.
Still, the Cedar Rapids City Council last July set aside 25 acres of city-owned land which the CRDG and its gaming partner, Peninsula Pacific Entertainment, will purchase under an agreement with the city in early 2026. The developer paid the city $165,000 for the purchase option.
CRDG and P2E envision a $250 million, 160,000-square-foot development including a casino floor with 1,000 slots and 60 table games, a variety of restaurants and bars and a 1,500-seat concert hall.
Cedar Rapids Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell said during the 2-year pause, city officials had time to develop a casino plan that reflects modern gaming, including more entertainment options and sports betting.
According to the Gazette, she said, “One of the challenges when the market is impeded, there’s very little incentive for existing casinos to be innovative and evolve. And this new facility represents the way people game today. It is an entertainment facility that happens to have gaming inside.”
However, state Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, chair of the House tax policy committee, said the 5-year moratorium would have ended when state regulators’ gaming study would have been available. Per the Gazette, he said that “means this is the perfect time to press pause until after a new study comes out to show cannibalization, saturation, what the impact of new casinos might look like. This moratorium matched up with conclusion of that study.”
Speaking to House colleagues, Kaufmann said data indicates there’s “a very real concern” a new casino would cannibalize revenue from existing casinos, “which has a real impact on Iowa workers” and state gaming revenues.
But during the House debate, state Rep. Sami Scheetz said the city “has been denied that right and opportunity by this legislative body” to seek a gaming license.
Per the Gazette, he said, “Some of the same people who are building casinos in Nebraska are proposing or helping to propose pieces of this agenda. Cedar Rapids has a right, as I said, to go through the process, just like 19 other casinos in this state have for the past two decades. This is an injustice on the second largest city in our state.”
As the session adjourned with no moratorium extension, Scheetz said in a statement, “This outcome is a significant victory for Cedar Rapids, as we may now have the opportunity to make our case to the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission. Our community has waited patiently for the chance to enhance our economic landscape, and we are ready to present a compelling argument for why Cedar Rapids deserves this opportunity for growth and revitalization.”
