Sioux City’s Argosy Riverboat Casino will stay open for at least a few more days. Judge Eliza Ovrum extended the stay until at least early next week during a hearing today in Polk County District Court in Des Moines.

Judge Overum says she has thousands of pages of information to read through before she can rule if the casino operated by Penn National Gaming will remain open. The riverboat casino is being replaced by a land-based Hard Rock Casino and the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission had set July 1st as the last day for the riverboat before Judge Ovrum’s original stay to today.

Racing and Gaming Commission administrator, Brian Ohorilko, says he understands the decision to extend the stay. “We just appreciate the opportunity for counsel to present their arguments and we will obviously respectfully wait until we receive the outcome from the court,” Ohorilko says. Fourteen attorneys representing the two sides were in the courtroom for today’s hearing.

The new Hard Rock Casino is scheduled to open August 1st.

(Reporting, Woody Gottburg,KSCJ, Sioux City)