Dickinson County says NO to casino

There will be -no- gambling on West Lake Okoboji in the near future. Voters in Dickinson County soundly defeated a referendum to legalize gambling on Tuesday. The unofficial totals are five-thousand-92 “no” votes to 19-hundred-39 “yes” votes. That breaks down to 27-and-a-half percent in favor of gaming and 72-point-4 percent against the measure. Mike May with the Iowa Great Lakes Quality of Life says the group was pleased and surprised by the margin of victory. May says gambling is not the kind of economic development needed in Dickinson County. May thinks more time and money was spent fighting gambling in Dickinson County than in any other area of the state with the mission to defeat riverboat gambling, and he says it worked. Just over seven-thousand people or 55-percent of the registered voters cast a ballot in the special gambling election. Gambling measures in Palo Alto and Worth counties passed with over 70-percent voter approval.