DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa lawmakers in both chambers moved quickly to pass a moratorium on new casino constructions before a decision from the Iowa Racing and Gaming commission on February 6. 

The $275 million proposal for Cedar Crossing Casino and Entertainment Center in Cedar Rapids would bring in a thousand construction jobs, hundreds of permanent jobs and more than $40 million in annual profit, according to the developer. 

“$183 million in economic impact and 680 jobs. In tax revenue we are looking at generating annually 43.6 million dollars,” said Kim Pang, the vice president of development at Peninsula Pacific Entertainment, the Cedar Crossing developer. “And a 10-year impact of $2.3 billion.”

Those in favor of a moratorium argue that with 23 casinos in the state the market is saturated, and that the amount of jobs that would be lost, and the revenue lost from other casinos outweighs the benefits for the Cedar Rapids community and the state. 

“The market is absolutely saturated, many of these casinos are family businesses that employ a lot of Iowans, and having a casino in Cedar Rapids will have a substantial impact on those jobs,” said Matt Hinch with Cornerstone Government Affairs.

Early on Thursday morning, Iowa Senators advanced the chamber’s version of the moratorium out of subcommittee. Just hours later the same proposal was advanced through the committee level in the Iowa Senate. Meanwhile, the Iowa House had two amendments in its version that advanced out of committee earlier in the week. The amendments match the language to the existing bill in the opposite chamber. It keeps language that would give new rules to the gaming commission to not issue licenses to casinos if there is a threshold of a negative impact on neighboring casino’s receipts.

Iowa House lawmakers passed through the bill with 68 votes for the moratorium.

“To my fellow members of this assembly, I say, I do not believe that you would accept this level of government interference in your district’s economic well-being. I ask you today, let the chips fall where they may. Let not this government be in the business of micromanaging the local economy,” said State Representative Aime Wichtendahl, (D) District 80 from Hiawatha.

“I think the studies show significant cannibalism is very real and I do believe we are in the correct purview to tell the Racing and Gaming Commission how they should make major decisions,” said State Representative Bobby Kaufmann, (R) District 82 from Wilton.

The bill still needs to go through the Iowa Senate chamber with a vote on the floor and signed into law by Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds. That would need to happen before next Thursday morning, February 6, which is when the Iowa Gaming and Racing Commission will make a decision on the Cedar Point license.

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