Sioux City’s Argosy riverboat casino has filed for bankruptcy. Sioux City Mayor Bob Scott and his staff are reviewing the court documents to see what the bankruptcy filing means for the city.
“We’ve looked at it online, but that doesn’t have all the creditors listed,” Scott said today. “…If you’re a creditor, you have to be notified. We have not received anything in the mail yet.”
The Argosy casino pays monthly rent to the City of Sioux City and the mayor isn’t sure whether this bankruptcy filing means those checks will stop.
“I think our rent’s somewhere in (the range of) $160,000 a month,” Scott said. “And, again, I don’t know what that does for the monthly rent for that facility down there. I don’t have any idea. We’re still waiting to figure that out.”
The mayor says Argosy’s assets seem to be far greater than its liabilities.
“The filing, our attorney checked it quickly, and I think she said it was like $100 million in assets and $10 million in liabilities,” Scott said.
The Argosy Casino is owned by Penn National Gaming and state gambling regulators have ordered it closed July 1st. A new, land-based “Hard Rock” Casino is scheduled to open in Sioux City this fall. Karen Bailey, a spokesperson for Penn National Gaming, says her company believes the bankruptcy will help to preserve Argosy’s business while “the complex legal and financial implications” of the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission’s decision are sorted out.
(Reporting by Woody Gottburg, KSCJ, Sioux City)