Despite turning down Linn County’s application for a casino this past April, the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission voted to approve Greene County’s application for a gaming license.
The vote in Cedar Rapids on April 17th saw the five-member Commission vote 4-1 to deny a gambling license.
The Greene County vote on June 12th in Burlington saw the Commissioners pass a 3-2 vote in favor of the $40-million project in Jefferson.
Chairman Jeff Lamberti told Raccoon Valley Radio, after the public forum on May 29th, that the decision comes down to each individual Commissioner. They make up their own minds and not as a collective group.
The first vote was against the casino made by Carl Heinrich of Council Bluffs. He said he was against it because he thought that the state’s 18 other casinos were on a slight decline financially and he thought that Greene County’s casino would hurt some of the revenue from existing casinos.
Dolores Mertz from Algona voted in favor and she was the second vote. She talked about one of her main points which was allowing rural Iowa the same advantages as urban Iowa.
“I just really think that rural Iowa is missing something and especially in North Central Iowa. Everything that we have goes to where the population is and that’s understandable. But you know, sometimes, can’t rural Iowa have a little piece of the action? I think so.”
Kris Kramer of New Hampton was the third vote and she turned down the casino project citing that there were currently enough casinos and that now isn’t the time to add another one.
Richard Arnold from Russell cast the fourth vote which was a “yes” for the casino arguing that he believed the economic impact that the facility could have outweighed the competition from surrounding casinos.
Lamberti echoed some of the reasons that Mertz and Arnold gave as to reasons why he was voting for the casino and added that Prairie Meadows was going to be just fine.
At the end of the meeting, Lamberti commented that the Commission would look at the possible future of allowing any more casino licenses in the state at their next meeting in July.