Casino or water park?: Linn County decides
This has gotten bizarre.
On Friday, the CEO of the Riverside Casino and Golf Resort announced he would build a water park in Cedar Rapids if Linn County voters reject Tuesday’s casino referendum. With public opinion favoring a casino, it seems like a last ditch, desperate measure — a bribe, really — by the Just Say No Casino group. It is the latest twist in what has been a very contentious and annoying campaign. The CRG has dedicated so much ink to the issue that I wonder what it will cover after the election.
Casinos are not my thing. Though I have played the slots on two or three occasions, I highly doubt I will ever play them again. (There are better things to spend my money on.) Whenever someone drags me inside the casino in Riverside, I always lounge in the cushioned chairs at the center bar and watch TV. I stay away from the slots, the card tables, and anywhere people are smoking. I stay way from the buffet, too, because nothing is labeled (I have no clue what contains meat and what does not) and the food is pretty lackluster for the price. The beer is overpriced, too, so I rarely spend a single penny.
Needless to say, I am not the kind of person the Linn County casino investors are banking on. However, there are plenty of people like my mom and grandmother, both of whom would sit at the slots for hours, to make the investment worthwhile. And that is what they are trying to convince the voters of Linn County: a casino will bring much-needed jobs and income and benefit the whole community. My feeling is that voters will agree, as they usually have across the state.
Iowa has come a long way on gambling. For a long time it was strictly prohibited. My uncle told me that state troopers would break up household card games if they heard betting was involved. In the eighties, the state legalized betting and gambling at racetracks and riverboats, and since then it has slowly emerged as a lucrative industry, the choice of destitute counties and cities in dire need of something, anything. Gambling is here to stay; there are now, I think, eighteen casinos in the state.
Gambling is, however, still controlled by the state since gaming licenses are only granted by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission. It has the final say of who gets a license and who does not. Voters could support the casino measure on Tuesday, but the IRGC could withhold a license, nullifying the whole thing. I have not read anything about the chances of that, but the commission will carefully consider the extent that a Cedar Rapids casino would “cannibalize” existing casinos. I am pretty sure it would, but how much is the question. Cedar Rapids is about equidistant from the casinos in Riverside and Waterloo, and the Meskwaki Bingo & Casino (which does not need an IRGC license since it is run by the Meskwaki tribe) is in neighboring Tama County, so I am sure all three would be adversely affected if Linn County gamblers had the chance to lose their money at home.
Complicating matters further is the fact the commission will soon make a decision on a casino application from Woodbury County. That application, I think, is connected with the Hard Rock chain, which has a strong reputation in the gaming industry. The commission may be leery of adding two more casinos right now so perhaps it will only add one. Given the Hard Rock name, and the fact Woodbury County is situated in a tri-state area that would draw gamblers from Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota, I think the commission would grant Woodbury County another casino. Two casinos are working well in Dubuque, so why not have two in Sioux City?
But the first step for a possible Linn County casino is Tuesday’s vote, which probably cannot come soon enough for local cable subscribers. It should be interesting.
