Iowa's 2nd-largest city should get a casino
What makes Cedar Rapids stronger directly makes rural Iowa stronger.
CARROLL, Iowa —
There are 19 state-regulated casinos in Iowa.
It makes no sense to deny a casino to the state's second-largest city, Cedar Rapids. It's only right that the city, in competition with other larger metros in Iowa, has access to the economic-development generation associated with the gaming-and-entertainment complexes in Des Moines and Sioux City and Council Bluffs and Waterloo and the Quad Cities and Dubuque. It’s actually astonishing Cedar Rapids isn’t already on this list of casino-hosting cities in Iowa.
I write this as a long-time rural Iowa advocate and the former newspaper owner who penned the initial column laying out the idea for why Jefferson, Iowa, should be home to a casino — which it proudly is today with the presence of Wild Rose Casino & Resort.
Cedar Rapids should get a "yes' vote from the Iowa Racing & Gaming Commission for the $275 million Cedar Crossing Casino and Entertainment Center. It's a thorough and impressive plan for culture, entertainment and community vitality.
In my years of advocacy for the Jefferson casino, in newspaper editorials and columns, and in public remarks at Iowa Racing & Gaming Commission meetings, I made the case that casinos were one of the strongest options (at this point) for catalyzing rural economies — that the rural angle should hold sway. Which it did with the Jefferson casino, Wild Rose, as former chairman of the racing and gaming commission Jeff Lamberti said in casting the deciding vote for that project.
There are major rural-urban debates in Iowa — and I am a seasoned rural voice. But the racing and gaming commission decision Thursday on the Cedar Rapids casino is not a rural-urban matter.
Some of the more sustained and vocal opposition to Cedar Crossing — based on competition it will create for existing casinos — comes from the Riverside Casino & Golf Resort south of Iowa City. Advocates claim Riverside is "rural.” That's true in the sense that, for example, there are rural parts of Polk County, but Riverside is in the Iowa City metro area — 20 minutes to the south of the city. It's not in a remote rural region of the state like Jefferson. I've stayed at Riverside, as it is a great casino and property, while in Iowa City for business, events, and never really felt like I was leaving the Iowa City area to get to and from the casino.
With regard to Cedar Rapids, it has always seemed spectacularly unfair to me that with 19 state-regulated casinos in our state, we would not allow Iowa’s second-largest city the opportunity to leverage the presence of a casino to boost the many other aggressive community-building efforts now underway in Linn County. I was born in Cedar Rapids and adopted there as a baby so Cedar Rapids, for full disclosure, is also my hometown, even though I am clearly a Carroll guy and western Iowan.
Additionally, as a member of the Highway 30 Coalition of Iowa, I can tell you that the grain markets in Cedar Rapids are essential to the 12 Iowa counties along that federal highway corridor, the vast majority of it rural.
What makes Cedar Rapids stronger directly makes rural Iowa stronger. Our No. 1 economic development initiative in Carroll County is support of the full four-laning of U.S. Highway 30 along its 331 Iowa miles. A high-profile investment in Cedar Rapids lifts our chances for Highway 30 improvements with the state and federal elected and appointed officials involved in transportation and infrastructure decisions.
In the end, it makes sense to approve one more casino for the state — in the largest city that does not yet have one. Then consider a moratorium. Twenty is a nice number.
About The Iowa Mercury
(Douglas Burns, founder of The Iowa Mercury and a fourth-generation Iowa journalist from Carroll, is a member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Read dozens of the most talented writers in Iowa in just one place. The Iowa Writers' Collaborative spans the full state. It’s one of the biggest things going in Iowa journalism and writing now — and you don’t want to miss. This collaborative is — as the outstanding Quad Cities journalist Ed Tibbetts says — YOUR SUNDAY IOWA newspaper. )
I can’t remember ever disagreeing with you on anything before, but I now do disagree with this proposal, Doug. I suspect gambling is one of the most underreported sources of misery visiting Iowa families. I hope I’m wrong, but I have an inkling I’m right.
We don’t need anymore gambling sites in Iowa.
There is no good reason to approve a new casino. I have no truck with moral objections, but the argument from Governor Mini Bone Spur and others (from both parties) that says gambling is a great source of "new money" for education and community development is disingenuous at best. New money loses its luster and impact almost immediately, as those who argue FOR gambling then argue for lowering taxes (and for giving tax funds to private religious schools) because of the gambling windfall. It's a zero sum argument at best and at worst permits our political leaders to take advantage of those who can afford gambling the least. The beneficiaries of casinos are casino owners and rich non-casino owners who get a reduced-tax bonus delivered to them under a smoke screen.
Go ahead and build the casino, if you want. But gambling is gambling and the House always wins.