New Iowa Casino Proposal Could Bring $80 Million to Cedar Rapids

The city of Cedar Rapids, Iowa is pushing to add another casino to its list of gaming offerings.

The last proposal for the area was fielded in 2017. Iowa’s gaming market has undergone substantial growth since that time, including the legalization of retail and online sports betting.

A new study projects that a proposed casino plan could draw more than one million annual visitors and add $80 million in taxable gaming revenue to the local economy.

Another bite at the apple

The study was orchestrated by Convergence Strategy Group, an analytical and planning company for businesses in the gaming and leisure industries.

In addition to the $80 million influx, the study predicts a shift of nearly $28 million from existing casinos to the proposed Cedar Crossing Casino and Entertainment Center. This was estimated through the use of cellphone tracking technology to gauge casino visitor patterns.

The proposal, drafted by Peninsula Pacific Entertainment (P2E) and the Linn County Gaming Association, has an estimated value of $275 million. The casino would be constructed on a piece of land that has been undeveloped since it was damaged by floods in 2017.

Several businesses and attractions would be opened alongside the casino, including restaurants, a 1,500-person entertainment center, a STEM lab, and arts and cultural center.

It’s worth noting that the proposal is exactly that—a proposal. Linn County and P2E submitted their application for a casino operator’s license to the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission in August, though the regulator does not plan to hold a vote until February 6, 2025.

Improved projections

Kirsten Running-Marquardt, the Linn County Board of Supervisors chair, said that locals overwhelmingly approved gaming referendums in 2012 and 2021. That, combined with the trajectory of Iowa’s gambling industry, are reason to believe that residents would support a new casino project.

“We are only looking for a fair chance, a fair shot, from the Racing and Gaming Commission, from the Legislature and from the governor,” Running-Marquardt said.

Iowa’s gaming commission denied Cedar Rapids casino applications in 2014 and 2017. Their reasoning was that the casino would steal revenues from casinos in Waterloo, Riverside, and Dubuque, and would fail to generate “new” profit.

However, Suzanne Leckert of Convergence said that improvements in their informational gathering process and the results of their study indicate that won’t be the case anymore.

“Before models were calibrated to visitation and revenue counts the state reports every month for every casino in the market. Now, we have locations of where those people are coming from and more accurately understand market dynamics and a facility’s penetration of an area," said Leckert, according to The Gazette.

If approved, the casino is expected to create more than 1,000 temporary and 524 full-time jobs. 

The casino itself would contain 700 slot machines and 22 table games, along with the other amenities previously mentioned.