Greene County’s hopes of a casino and entertainment facility may have to wait until a decision is made involving Linn County’s proposal.

In the meantime, Guy Richardson with Grow Greene County, says a non-profit group is currently being formed.  The organization called, Grow Greene County Gaming Commission will consist of community members from the surrounding towns including Jefferson.  He states that the group will be the entity that will apply for a gaming license through the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission.

He comments that the Commission has set a deadline date for the county’s application by 2pm on January 6th.  Richardson notes that they will not turn in their application early because there might be other entities out there looking to put an application in themselves.

“What you look at is if something like that had a chance of happening obviously you want to be in a position where they don’t know what you’re going to do.  So you don’t want to put your plans out there for anybody else to know what you’re going to do until the absolute last minute.”

Even though a non-profit group is getting established, Richardson adds that one of the major supporters of the casino, the Greene County Development Corporation, will be sitting on the sidelines but will still play a part in the process.

“The (GCDC) Board will simply be a cheerleader at this point in time and we will go to the (Iowa Racing and Gaming) Commission meetings.  We want to make sure that we keep our presence in front of them.  (We) want to make sure that the Commission realizes how much support there is in Greene County for this going forward.  So we will continue to do that.”

He points out that Linn County’s presentation for a casino to the Commission will happen in January, but it’s unclear if they will streamline Greene County’s application process along the same pathway as Linn County’s.