A Polk County District Court judge has reversed and earlier ruling involving the new land-based casino in Sioux City. The ruling lifts a stay on the license awarded to Sioux City Entertainment for the new Hard Rock Casino under construction in the downtown area.
Penn National Gaming, the operators of the riverboat casino in Sioux City, asked the judge Robert Hanson to block the license while other legal action continues. Judge Hanson agreed to the request in December, but the Iowa Supreme Court reviewed the issue and gave Judge Eliza Ovrum until February 15th to rule on whether it could go forward.
Sioux City Entertainment argued in a hearing on January 30th that a stay would kill the project they’ve already spent millions of dollars on. Penn countered SCE has continued construction to make the project to big for the judge to stop.
The Hard Rock Casino is scheduled to open this fall, but would have been delayed over a year without the ruling lifting the stay on the license.