Another gambling proposal has gone down in defeat. In northwest Iowa, more than 60-percent of Clay County voters cast ballots Tuesday against a proposed excursion casino boat. Tim Frank, spokesman for the Don’t Gamble With Our Future Committee, says informed voters made the right decision at the polls to give what they though was the right legacy for the town. He says they voted for what was right, even though his side was outspent 10 to one. The final results in Tuesday’s gaming referendum were three-thousand-49 “no” votes to 19-hundred-60 “yes” votes, while about 41-percent of the registered voters participated in the special election. Co-spokeswoman Barb Van Wyk was encouraged by the numbers and thought they would win. Clay County Gaming Initiative Chairman Harry Rasdal says the group is disappointed with the results. He says they fought a good fight and made a tremendous increase from the start, but not as much as they wanted. Rasdal suspects the registered voters were not fully informed about the gambling issue. Officials had hoped to put floating casino north of Spencer along Highway 71. Both groups expressed interest in working on a new type of economic development project in the future.
