The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission toured the site of the proposed new casino in Jefferson Thursday morning, then held a public hearing on the Green County project.
Commission chair, Jeff Lamberti of Ankeny, says hearing from the community helps in their decision. “It’s an important part of the process that we go through, is to have these public hearings and to let people on both sides of the issue give their input,” Lamberti says Wild Rose Entertainment is proposing a $40 million casino resort with restaurants, a conference center and hotel..
Lamberti says the commission has a goal when listening to the comments. “We really focus on the criteria that we use in hearing from those people,” Lamberti says. The commission will make a final decision on awarding a gambling license for the project at its meeting on June 12th in Burlington.
The commission denied a license for a casino proposal for Cedar Rapids at its April meeting. Lamberti said after that meeting that the vote against the Cedar Rapids casino would not impact the decision on the Greene County casino as they are in two different types of markets.