Two gambling market studies prepared for the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission show any new casinos would cut into the revenue at existing facilities. The Commission asked for the studies as it considers requests for new gambling licenses in Cedar Rapids in Linn County, and near Jefferson in Greene County.
One study finds the Cedar Rapids casino would take $59 million from existing casinos on the way to generating $81 million by 2017. The other study found the new Linn County casino would take $67 million from the slots and table games of existing casinos.
In central Iowa, one study finds the proposed Greene County casino would generate $28 million with $22 million coming through the cannibalization of other casino dollars. The second study projects around $33 million dollars in revenue for Greene County, with around $31 million coming from existing casinos.
Both reports say the Iowa market is near the saturation point for gambling. The two companies will present their findings to the commission at their meeting on March 6th. Both studies are available on the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission website .
The Racing and Gaming Commission administrator and the chair of the commission have said the gambling studies will be one thing that will be considered in the decision on whether to award any new gambling licenses. The commission will visit the proposed site for the Cedar Rapids casino in a special meeting on April 3rd. They will make a decision on possibly awarding a license to Cedar Rapids at their regular meeting April 17th in Council Bluffs.
The commission set a special meeting on May 29th to visit the site in Greene County and also receive public comment from those individuals not associated with the application process. The final decision on the Green County casino would come at the commission’s June 12th meeting in Burlington.