Linn County voters to decide on potential casino

Peninsula Pacific Entertainment will be the operator if the casino’s approved.

US.- Next week, voters in Linn County, Iowa, will decide whether to give the green light to the development of a new casino. Attempts to bring a casino to Cedar Rapids failed in 2014 and 2017. On both occasions, the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission said a casino would take away from other nearby casinos — there are 19 licensed casinos in Iowa.

Cedar Rapids is Iowa’s second-largest city. If voters pass the referendum, Cedar Rapids could gain an in perpetuity licence from the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, the five-member regulatory panel. Peninsula Pacific Entertainment would operate the casino.

The polls open Tuesday, November 2.

President of Peninsula Pacific Entertainment, Jonathan Swain said: “Obviously opportunities have come and gone, some of the properties that we previously looked at before are under development for new and exciting things,” said

There has been no decision on a location or an architect yet. “The first thing is this referendum and that guarantees us the opportunity, and that’s what we’re really focused on,” said Swain.

He added: “There’s gonna be competitive threats to Iowa gaming with Nebraska and Illinois building additional facilities, that in the future will be revenue down for the general fund.”

Peninsula Pacific Entertainment has granted the Linn County Gaming Association 8 per cent of net revenue, over double the 3 per cent required by the state.

President of the Linn County Gaming Association Anne Parmley said: “If you are a county with a casino you split on average proceeds of around 6 point 3 million dollars back to your community. If you’re a county in Iowa that doesn’t have a casino, that number streaks all the way to 140 thousand dollars on average.”

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