Iowa Legislators Submit Bills to Shut Down Cedar Rapids Casino Bid

An Iowa lawmaker presented a bill that would stifle Cedar Rapids’ plans to erect a new casino.

GOP Sen. Jeff Reichman (Lee County) on Wednesday introduced Senate File 76, which would enact a moratorium on new gaming licenses until June 30, 2030. That means that the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission would not be allowed to authorize a new operator for more than five years.

Cedar Rapids Development Group LLC, which is pushing the city’s quest for a gaming license, already filed a lobbyist declaration against the bill.

Strong opposition

The bill was presented before the state gaming regulator heard Thursday morning arguments in Jefferson in support of a petition that aims to nix Cedar Rapids’ efforts to acquire a gaming license. 

Rep. Bobby Kaufmann (R-Wilton), chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, also filed a piece of legislation similar to Senate File 76.

Kaufmann’s House Study Bill 80 is reminiscent of a bill that passed an Iowa House vote with bipartisan support in 2024 before it was left to die by the Senate. Like Reichman’s proposal, it would institute a five-year ban on the issuance of new gaming licenses.

House Study Bill 80 differs from Senate File 76 in regard to how it would allow the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission to issue licenses to future casinos once the moratorium expired. One of the primary considerations would be how a new casino would affect revenue totals from existing casinos.

The state commission, composed of five members, is set to decide on the future of a Linn County (which includes Cedar Rapids) casino license during its Feb/ 6 meeting.

Is another casino a positive or a negative?

The petition to disqualify Cedar Rapids from housing a casino is being pushed by the Riverside Casino & Golf Resort and Washington County Riverboat Foundation. It claims that a 2021 referendum that legalized casino gambling in Linn County was invalid.

The state gaming commission already denied proposals for a Cedar Rapids casino in 2014 and 2017. It implemented a two-year moratorium on gaming licenses in 2022, though that expired on July 1, 2024.

Since then, there’s been mounting pressure on local officials to award a gaming license to Linn County.

Two market studies commissioned by the Iowa gaming regulator suggested that building a casino in Cedar Rapids would only cannibalize existing casinos by stealing from their audience, as opposed to states without casinos that want to retain local gamblers who may travel to other states to place their bets.

Iowa’s 19 commercial casinos and four tribal casinos support a moratorium. They share the same fear that an already densely-populated casino market would be strained with the addition of another facility.

Still, Cedar Rapids officials are pushing hard for what they estimate would create $60 million in new gaming revenue.