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, which supporters said would net the state an additional $60 million in gaming revenue.
However, opponents contend that a casino in Cedar Rapids would cannibalize revenue from existing casinos, hurting the economy in other Iowa towns.
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.
