The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission voted 3-2 in favor of a casino in Greene County.

The vote was a tie at 2-2, the final vote resting on Chairman Jeff Lamberti who voted “yes” to approve the $40-million entertainment facility by Wild Rose Entertainment, based in West Des Moines.

Commissioner Dorles Mertz a Democrat from Algona, who voted in favor of the casino, said that rural Iowa is missing something and she understood that the population goes to where things are happening which are in the urban areas but she felt that rural Iowa needed a piece of the action too.

Guy Richardson with Grow Greene County Gaming Corporation, the non-profit, soon-to-be license holder of Wild Rose Jefferson LLC, talks about how big of a decision this was and the impacts it could have in the future.

“In the years that I’ve been involved in some of the leadership, in the area there, I can’t think of anything that’s been this significant.  I think it’s just huge, I think it will have long-term, long-lasting effects, very positive effects.  I couldn’t be happier right now.”

Richardson adds that Chairman Lamberti felt that there would be a large economic impact to the County and that Lamberti agreed that Mertz’s statement about urban Iowa getting all the benefits, including population growth, while rural Iowa is leftout.

The facility that will be located on the northwest corner of the intersection of US Highway 30 and Iowa Highway 4 will not only include an 18,000-square-foot casino, an events center, a sports bar and restaurant and a 71-room, three-story hotel, but it will also generate 275 full-time equivalent positions with as many as 325 people hired and $7 million in payroll and benefits will be injected annually into the local economy.

Last April, the Commission denied granting a gaming license to Cedar Rapids, citing that a casino would take away too much profit from surrounding casinos.

Richardson anticipates construction to start sometime next week.

This story is an update from an earlier report at 10:30am.