JEFFERSON, Iowa (AP) - A plan to build a $40 million casino in the Greene County city of Jefferson drew hundreds of people to a public hearing Thursday before the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission.
The Carroll Daily Times Herald reports about 500 people attended the five-hour hearing, and most of the 70 speakers favored the proposal. They pointed to the estimated 325 jobs the casino would bring to the western Iowa community.
The commission is expected to vote on the plan June 12 in Burlington.
If approved, the proposed casino would authorize a gambling license for Grow Greene County Gaming Corp., a nonprofit organization that would contract with Wild Rose Entertainment. The Iowa-based company also operates casinos in Emmetsburg and Clinton.
Plans call for a casino resort with restaurants, a conference center and a hotel in Jefferson, a city of about 4,200 people. The casino would include 500 slot machines and 14 table games.
Greene County voters passed a casino referendum in August with 75 percent approval.
The proposal follows the five-member gambling commission’s vote in April to deny a license for a $164 million proposed casino in Cedar Rapids after concluding a new casino would take as much as $60 million from existing casinos.
Supporters of the Greene County casino said it would add jobs, offer new entertainment options and send money to nonprofit groups.
“I think this could be the catalyst for a much greater development for Greene County and this region,” said Sid Jones, president of Home State Bank in Jefferson.
Chuck Offenburger, a former Des Moines Register columnist who lives in Cooper, just south of Jefferson, said a casino would help rebuild a region that has struggled over the years, like much of rural Iowa.
“Over my career I have watched the gaming industry take a leading role in rebuilding Iowa,” Offenburger said. “In Greene County we know full and well what happens if you live in decline for too long, and we’ve had enough of it. We want to grow.”
Much of the opposition came from people involved in Iowa’s currently operating casinos.
Gary Palmer, CEO of Prairie Meadows Racetrack & Casino in the Des Moines suburb of Altoona, expressed concern that like the Cedar Rapids plan, a Jefferson casino could hurt other operations.
“Reports conclude there are no under-served gaming communities,” Palmer said. “Iowa would be better served if existing casinos re-invented their facilities and kept their assets upgraded.”
However, Richard Wilkey, a former president of the Racing Association of Central Iowa who was involved with the startup of Prairie Meadows, doubted the Altoona operation would be hurt by a Green County casino.
“Prairie Meadows is going to do just fine whether this project is built or it isn’t,” Wilkey said. “I wouldn’t be standing here today if I thought Prairie Meadows was going to be damaged by this project. My heart is in the Prairie Meadows project.”
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Information from: Daily Times Herald.
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