Iowa Casino Moratorium Clears House, Would Impose Five-Year Ban on New Licenses

Posted on: January 31, 2025, 08:20h. 

Last updated on: January 31, 2025, 08:49h.

On Thursday, the Iowa casino moratorium bill that would prevent the state from granting additional gaming licenses for five years cleared the state House of Representatives.

Iowa casino moratorium Cedar Rapids
PGA Tour golfer Zach Johnson discusses his involvement in a proposed casino for Iowa’s Cedar Rapids. Legislation to put a hold on new gaming licenses in Iowa is making progress in the state capital. (Image: Cedar Crossing Casino)

House Bill 144, the renumbered House Study Bill 80 after it passed the House Ways and Means Committee, gained strong support in the lower General Assembly chamber with a 68-31 vote. Rep. Austin Baeth (D-Polk) was the lone abstainer. Republicans accounted for 53 “yea” votes and 14 “nays.” Democrats went 15 in favor to 17 opposed.

Introduced by Rep. Bobby Kaufmann (R-Wilton), the legislation would prohibit the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission (IRGC) from issuing further gaming concessions until July 1, 2030. The state gaming regulator is expected to vote on a casino application for Cedar Crossing during its February 6 meeting.

Kaufmann’s legislation, however, would be retroactive to Jan. 1, 2025, meaning even if the IRGC approves the $275 million development called Cedar Crossing Casino, if enacted, the moratorium would annul the gaming permit for the state’s second-most populated city. 

Lawmakers Question Free Market

Among the 31 no votes was Rep. Sami Scheetz (D-Linn), who represents Linn County, home to Cedar Rapids. Scheetz questioned why the legislature would restrict the free market and block competition and investment in the state’s gaming industry.

There’s a difference between having a complete free market and what this bill purports to do, which is have the legislature put its thumb on the scale in favor of people who already have gaming licenses,” said Scheetz. “No other industry in the state of Iowa has these kinds of anti-competitive rules.”

Kaufmann countered by pointing to two independent third-party studies commissioned by the IRGC to determine what impact a casino in Cedar Rapids would have on current properties that concluded the Cedar Crossing Casino would largely cannibalize play.

I think the studies show significant cannibalism is very real, and I do believe we are in the correct purview to tell the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission how they should make major decisions,” said Kaufmann.

Kaufmann said that while he appreciates Scheetz’s “rightward turn on capitalism,” a free market “does not exist in the Iowa gambling world.”

Casino.org previously reported that Kaufmann has received several donations from Elite Casino Resorts, which owns and manages Riverside Casino & Golf Resort, the casino that the studies said would be most negatively impacted by a Cedar Rapids casino. Elite contributed at least $17,600 in cash and in-kind donations to Kaufmann since 2023. 

Iowa Senate Review

The Iowa casino moratorium moved to the Senate, where it hastily moved through the Senate Local Government Committee. The bill could move to the full Senate floor and be put up for vote early next week.

The Cedar Rapids Development Group, consisting of approximately 80 area businesspeople and investors, has partnered with gaming operator Peninsula Pacific Entertainment in pitching the state on the Cedar Cross Casino. If approved by the IRGC and the gaming moratorium dies in the Senate or is vetoed by Gov. Kim Reynolds (R), the developers say they’d build a “state-of-the-art complex that offers much more than gaming.”

Notable amenities include a STEM lab accessible without entering the casino, an arts and cultural center, and a Zach Johnson-branded “clubhouse” where his Masters dinner would be on the menu.