Twists and turns ahead for Cedar Rapids casino

So an evolving effort to put a 'boutique” casino in downtown Cedar Rapids is shaping up to be very, very different from the ill-fated drive to build a much larger gambling destination in 2014.

That was an-all-hands-on-deck effort by city and county leaders to convince the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission to license the $174 million Cedar Crossing Casino, with its multiple restaurants, bars and entertainment venues. There were T-shirts and pep rallies and dozens of people lined up to testify to Cedar Crossing's attributes. Mayor Ron Corbett called the casino 'critical to the community's future.”

The commission, fearing Cedar Crossing would grab too much of its revenue from existing casinos, said no. Iowa's saturated gaming market couldn't handle another big casino. Sorry.

Enter Wild Rose Entertainment, which now is pitching a smaller $40 million boutique casino as part of a multiuse development roughly across from the city-owned U.S. Cellular Center, hotel and Convention Complex. No restaurants included.

Because the city and county still are tied to legal pledges to support only Cedar Crossing, Wild Rose Cedar Rapids will be a no-hands-on-deck effort for city and county leaders. They won't necessarily be 'hostile” to the proposal, Corbett says. But that's the best they can do.

Technically, Wild Rose doesn't need any city or county assistance, but how is silent-but-not-hostile going to play with commissioners?

And how will investors who dumped big bucks into passing a referendum and then laying the groundwork for Cedar Crossing's application respond to Wild Rose's bid? I doubt they'll stand by and watch a new group of investors grab their prize. I'm betting no pep rallies will be planned.

We now have dueling non-profit boards, one tied to the remnants of Cedar Crossing, and now a new one named last week attached to Wild Rose.

So things are getting interesting. Still, all of this will be all for show if the commission concludes once again a Cedar Rapids casino would cannibalize too much dough.

Last week, the commission started the process of hiring a firm or firms to conduct a gambling market analysis. Commissioners will be pulling the trigger on that study about the same time Wild Rose plans to file its license application in February. Wild Rose's bet is a smaller casino stands a better chance because it would take less revenue from nearby gambling venues.

But if studies landing in 2017 look anything like the ones that torpedoed Cedar Crossing in 2014, the bloom could come off the Wild Rose quickly. Draft minutes from the meeting last week show commissioners are hardly bullish about prospects for a Cedar Rapids casino. Commissioner Kristine Kramer said she hasn't changed her mind since joining the 4-1 majority rejecting Cedar Crossing, with Commissioner Carl Heinrich also pouring on cold water.

Commissioner Jeff Lamberti pointed to 'rumors” that more than one license application will be coming from Linn County. Intriguing, to be sure.

There likely will be many twists and turns, if not T-shirts, before this gets settled. But no matter how the plot develops, the market analysis is the whole ballgame.

l Comments: (319) 398-8452; todd.dorman@thegazette.com