CEDAR RAPIDS
On Monday, Sept. 16, Peninsula Pacific Entertainment (P2E) and the Linn County Gaming Association held a press conference in Cedar Rapids discussing plans for a proposed Cedar …
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CEDAR RAPIDS
On Monday, Sept. 16, Peninsula Pacific Entertainment (P2E) and the Linn County Gaming Association held a press conference in Cedar Rapids discussing plans for a proposed Cedar Crossing Casino and Entertainment Center. The center would be built on the site of the demolished Cooper’s Mill hotel and restaurant on F Ave NW in Cedar Rapids, and plans call for several restaurants, a 1,500-capacity entertainment venue, and STEM lab in addition to gambling areas.
The project is not a certainty; the Linn County Gaming Association and P2E submitted their application for a gaming license to the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission in August, and the commission plans to vote on the proposal on Feb. 2, 2025.
The state previously denied two attempts to build a Cedar Rapids casino, in 2014 and 2017, despite Linn County residents passing gaming referendums in 2013 and 2021. The concern? A new casino in the area would diminish profits for existing casinos in Waterloo, Riverside, and Dubuque rather than bring in new revenue.
State lawmakers then passed a 2-year moratorium on new gaming licenses in 2022 that expired July 1, opening up the possibility of a new casino in the corridor.
At the press conference, speakers said a recent market study showed Cedar Crossing would bring $80.2 million in new revenue to the state, and impacts to existing casinos in the region would not be egregious: the study suggests there would be an 11.6% impact on the Riverside Casino’s projected revenues, 5.8% on Isle Casino Waterloo, and 3.6% on Isle Casino Dubuque.
The state will conduct an independent market study due at the end of December to help inform their decision.
“I hope that the Riverside Casino continues to thrive unencumbered by the threat of a Linn County casino,” Patty Koller, Executive Director of the Washington County Riverboat Foundation (WCRF), the nonprofit license holder of the Riverside Casino, told The News.
“The threat of a Linn County casino for rural Iowa is very great, and that threat keeps hanging over us,” she said. “The Riverboat Foundation would lose a considerable amount of revenue.”
Since 2006, the WCRF has granted over $70 million dollars, funding projects in Washington and surrounding counties.
