The odds are good that Iowa lawmakers next year will again consider prohibiting its state gaming agency from authorizing additional casino licenses.
Iowa is home to 19 commercial casinos. The industry successfully petitioned state lawmakers in 2022 legislative to pump the brakes on greenlighting new casinos for two years.
Lawmakers agreed with the casino lobby that Iowa’s gaming market was at or near a saturation point. With casinos opening in neighboring Nebraska, the Legislature joined the Iowa gaming industry in putting the casino environment on hold to determine if additional competition could be supported.
The moratorium ended June 30, 2024. The Iowa Racing & Gaming Commission (IRGC) has already fielded interest from a casino developer — the Cedar Rapids Development Group — which through its partnership with Peninsula Pacific Entertainment wants to build a casino resort in the state’s second most populated city.
Moratorium Momentum
The Iowa Legislature in April adjourned for the year without extending the casino moratorium. House lawmakers had approved legislation to lengthen the temporary freeze by five years through June 2029 but the Senate didn’t act on the measure.
Rep. Bobby Kaufmann (R-Wilton) championed the failed extension. He told the Iowa Capital Dispatch last week that he intends to reintroduce the measure when the lawmaking body convenes for its 2025 session.
I did not offer the amendment last year to have it pass the House just to abandon my efforts,” Kaufmann said. “I certainly plan to reintroduce it next year.”
Sen. Jason Schultz (R-Schleswig), who heads the Iowa Senate’s State Government Committee, was responsible for stalling Kaufmann’s casino bill after fielding the statute following its House passage. Schultz said he’ll poll his chamber colleagues again about the issue if Kaufman reintroduces the casino moratorium and it arrives in his chamber.
Any decision would be run through the caucus to decide what direction we’d like to go,” Schultz explained.
Timing of the measure would be critical. The IRGC detailed that if the Cedar Rapids Development Group formally applies for a gaming concession, the state agency will likely vote on the project in early February 2025.
Before then, the state gaming regulatory is commissioning an economic impact report on allowing a casino in Cedar Rapids. If the market study shows that a Cedar Rapids casino would further grow the state gaming industry and not significantly hurt current licensees, the IRGC could sign off on the development as early as Feb. 5, 2025.
Race Against Clock
Even if Kaufmann were to rally up adequate support for his casino moratorium bill again in the House and state senators become more willing to back the measure, the statute would presumably face a difficult timeline.
With the Legislature convening on Jan. 13 and the IRGC possibly voting on the Cedar Rapids casino on Feb. 5, that means Kaufmann’s bill would need to breeze through House and Senate committees, receive full floor considerations in each chamber and subsequent majority votes, and garner Gov. Kim Reynolds’ (R) signature in less a month.
With weekends and Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 20, that leaves just 16 session days for the casino moratorium to be signed into law before the IRGC might grant the Cedar Rapids casino pitch a gaming permit. If Reynolds’ signature comes after the IRGC action, the license would be grandfathered into the statute.
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