Trouble with a capital ‘C’ for casino

Not in my backyard does not apply

I remember watching Saturday morning cartoons as a kid. I watched my cartoon heroes face all kinds of perils. I learned that if you venture into the ocean, you will be immediately circled by sharks. If you wander too far into the woods, you will soon be sucked into quicksand. Finally, if you end up on a tropical island, you will be captured by cannibals.

Since those idyllic days, I became a SCUBA diver. I have spent a lot of time swimming, snorkeling, and diving in the ocean. I have seen sharks, but they have never surrounded or circled me. I have spent many days hiking in the wilderness, and not once have I been sucked into quicksand. I lived for three years on a tropical island, and cannibals have never attacked me.

For years, I thought those Saturday morning cartoons had exaggerated the dangers of sharks, quicksand, and cannibals. It turns out that I might have been wrong — at least on one of those counts. Lately, as I flip through the newspaper, or catch the news on TV or the radio, I keep hearing more and more about cannibals. Who would have guessed that cannibals would stage a comeback?

Cannibals? In Iowa? I had to look at the articles to see just what is going on. To my surprise, the problem is not cannibals at all! To paraphrase Professor Harold Hill:

You got trouble, folks, right here in Cedar Rapids, trouble with a capital “T,” and that rhymes with “C” and that stands for Casino!

The issue is Casinos — specifically, the possibility of a new Casino right here in Cedar Rapids. On Monday the Iowa House Ways and Means Committee approved House Study Bill 80, a bill that would create a five-year moratorium on new casino licenses.

You might think the impetus for a moratorium would come from the local community. The community might object to things like crime, problem gambling, impact on low-income populations, or government corruption. If so, you would be wrong; this is where cannibalism comes into the discussion.

The reason for the proposed moratorium is cannibalism. The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission will be meeting on Feb. 6 to decide whether to grant a license to the group wanting to build a casino in Cedar Rapids. Casino opponents argue a Cedar Rapids casino would cannibalize business from nearby casinos in Waterloo, Riverside, and Davenport. Some studies show a Cedar Rapids casino would get as much as 60% of its revenue from existing casinos. There is a certain irony to existing casinos lobbying to prevent granting a license to a new casino.

On the other side of the issue, the Cedar Rapids application is supported by local government, business groups, and labor groups. Supporters say that a casino would bring hundreds of jobs to Cedar Rapids. They paint a picture of increased economic activity and turning Cedar Rapids into a tourist destination, bringing in visitors who stay in hotels, eat in restaurants, and shop in local stores. They also point out that a portion of casino profits would go to local nonprofits.

Let me be clear, I am not a casino supporter, and I do not want to see one built in Cedar Rapids!

But I also find the moratorium offensive. Imagine if you could start a business and have the state prevent your competition from opening for business. That would be a pretty sweet deal. I can hardly blame the existing casinos or legislators who represent the areas where they are located for supporting a moratorium.

That leaves me with a conundrum. I don’t want Cedar Rapids to have a casino, but I don’t like the idea of the state getting in the way of the free market and preventing competition either.

I think I have a solution. There have been attempts in the past to recognize Native Hawaiians as an Indian tribe. My mother is from Guam, and if Native Hawaiians are recognized as an Indian tribe, native CHamoru, the Indigenous people of Guam, should be too! If that were to happen, I could declare my house to be tribal land, and I could open a casino. I would give a portion of revenue to local nonprofits, and since it is allowed by law, I would pay out a portion of yearly casino revenue to the local members of my CHamoru tribe. I would also use revenues for improvements on tribal land, like adding a third stall to my garage or enlarging my dining room. Of course, I live on the Southwest side of Cedar Rapids, so my CHamoru Casino would probably cannibalize revenue from the Meskwaki Casino in Tama, but nobody seems to take that into account with the Cedar Rapids Casino proposal. I am just the opposite of the NIMBY crowd; if I could, I would build a casino in my backyard.

David Chung is a Gazette editorial fellow. david.chung@thegazette.com