Iowa house bans new casinos in the state for five years

Thursday afternoon, Iowa lawmakers continued with their flurry of action to pass a five-year moratorium on new casino licenses. House members, led by the Republican majority, approved the ban 68-31. Cedar Rapids will be the community most immediately impacted. Cedar Crossing Casino planned a $275 million project. In a sign of legislators’ push to pass the moratorium quickly, the senate did not wait for the house to complete its work on the bill. Thursday morning, the Senate Local Government Subcommittee approved moratorium legislation. A few hours later, the Senate Local Government Committee did also. That means that the bill could go before the full senate for debate next week. The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission is scheduled to take up casino licensing at its meeting in Altoona next Thursday. However, if the senate approves the casino license moratorium and Governor Kim Reynolds signs it into law before the meeting, then lawmakers can take away that decision-making authority from Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission members.