What’s in the cards?

COUNCIL BLUFFS - No one in the Cedar Rapids delegation Wednesday night - on the eve of Thursday morning's crucial meeting of the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission - said they were sure they knew if the Cedar Crossing Casino would secure a state gaming license or not.

There was hope, not certainty.

'These guys are playing their cards very close to the vest,” Mayor Ron Corbett said. 'It's a game-day decision. I'm going to find out at exactly the same time everyone else does.”

Corbett said he had not talked to any of the five commissioners on Wednesday, but he has said in recent days that some last-minute lobbying efforts have been going on.

The mayor was in the lobby of the Ameristar Casino Hotel in Council Bluffs before driving across the Missouri River for dinner in Omaha with a few City Council members, City Manager Jeff Pomeranz and Steve Gray, the Cedar Rapids businessman who has led the local investor group since before the first public announcement of the casino project in October 2012.

Gray and casino investor Drew Skogman, vice president of Skogman Homes, were in the casino lobby last night, too, nicely positioned so they were able to greet the five commission members as they met for dinner at the Bourbon's BBQ and Steak restaurant.

'It's kind of like the birth of your first child,” Gray said. 'You're both nervous and excited. We've done everything we could do, everything we should do and we've had remarkable community support for this project. We're down to five people on the commission who will make the best decision they can.”

Gray said opponents of the Cedar Rapids project were milling around the casino lobby last night as well.

Groups of Cedar Rapids contractors and labor union members also were on hand to make one last show of support in their push Cedar Rapids casino proposal.

Some thought it would be a split vote among the five commissioners, but a vote in the Cedar Crossing Casino's favor.

Former Iowa lawmaker Rich Running of Cedar Rapids, who asked the commission to support the Cedar Rapids proposal on April 3 during a public hearing in Cedar Rapids, said last night that he put the odds at 51-49 that the commission would approve the Cedar Rapids gaming license.

Corbett, a former state lawmaker, too, heard of Running's comment last night and said such thin margins were part of many a vote over the years in the Iowa Legislature on gambling.

Corbett said he found some optimism in the fact that three of the five commissioners - chairman Jeff Lamberti of Ankeny, Richard Arnold of Russell and Dolores Mertz of Algona - were former state legislators.

'In the legislative environment there is always this give and take in trying to work out a deal,” Corbett said. 'But I don't know if the Racing and Gaming Commission is like the Legislature.”

Corbett said he took comfort, too, in the fact that the commission permitted Cedar Rapids to present a casino proposal in the first place.

'They're not going to ask us to apply and go through all this drama if they're not going to give us fair consideration,” he said. 'That gives me optimism that we're going to get a fair shake for a license for Iowa's second largest city.”

Lamberti served in both the Iowa House and Iowa Senate, and was president of the Senate, said Corbett, a former speaker of the Iowa House.

'He's a smart guy,” the mayor said. 'Oftentimes leaders look for ways to say ‘Yes' versus saying ‘No.'”

Iowa Racing and Gaming Commissioners

Jeff Lamberti (chairman), Ankeny. Lawyer and president of law firm Block, Lamberti, Gocke & Ahlman. Former state legislator in the Iowa House, 1995-1998, and Iowa Senate, 1999-2006. Unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, 2006. Party affiliation is Republican. Son of Donald Lamberti, founder of Ankeny-based Casey's General Stores. Term expires April 30, 2017.

Richard Arnold, Russell. Farmer and the owner of a small business. Party affiliation is Republican. Term expires April 30, 2016.

Carl Heinrich, Council Bluffs. Past president of Iowa Western Community College. Party affiliation is Republican. Term expires April 30, 2017.

Kristine Kramer, New Hampton. Owner of K & W Motors Ltd. Party affiliation is Democratic. Term expires April 30, 2015.

Dolores Mertz, Algona. Retired member of the Iowa House, where she served from 1988 through 2010. Party affiliation is Democratic. Term expires April 30, 2015.

Casino Timeline

May 2009: A GVA Marquette Advisors gaming market analysis report to the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission on a future Cedar Rapids casino says it would have 'limited potential to capture revenues from out-of-state residents” and likely would create 'strong cannibalization” from existing casinos.

May 2012: Cedar Rapids Development Authority files Iowa incorporation papers. By late September the name is changed to Linn County Gaming Association.

June 18, 2012: Cedar Rapids Development Group is formed as a casino investor group, led by Steve Gray.

June 26, 2012: Gray and his investor group finances a lengthy, anonymous phone survey that contacts more than 600 Linn County residents to test local attitudes about casino gaming.

Sept. 28, 2012: Cedar Rapids Development Authority changes its name to Linn County Gaming Association.

Oct. 3, 2012: Gray announces his intent to bring a casino to Cedar Rapids. He leads a group of mostly Cedar Rapids investors who want to build a casino at a cost of $80 million to $100 million and open it in 2016.

Oct. 8, 2012: The Linn County Board of Supervisors approves a memorandum of understanding with the Linn County Gaming Association and Cedar Rapids Development Group to support the bid for a gaming license. The city of Cedar Rapids also approves a memorandum of understanding around this time.

Oct. 11, 2012: Linn County Gaming Association says a Cedar Rapids-area casino could steer $2.4 million to $4 million a year to local charitable causes.

November 2012: Casino opponents conduct a phone survey. Marcia Rogers of Vote Yes attributes the survey to Jeff Link and Dan Kehl, an executive at Kehl Management and CEO of casinos and resorts in Riverside and Larchwood.

Jan. 2, 2013: The Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance, the Cedar Rapids Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Building Trades Council and the Building Pros of Eastern Iowa announce support for a casino.

Jan. 7, 2013: Opposition group, Just Say No Casino, has been organized, The Gazette reports.

Jan. 8, 2013: The pro-casino Vote Yes Linn County submits more than 15,000 approved signatures, more than 3,500 above the number required by state law, to prompt a vote.

Jan. 16, 2013: Vote Yes Linn County comes out with its first TV ad, stating that the venue would generate an estimated $80 million in gross revenue annually, with $18 million of that coming from existing casinos in the state. Within a week, Just Say No Casino group puts out its first TV ad

Jan. 18, 2013: Linn County Supervisors sets March 5 for the casino vote.

March 5, 2013: Linn County voters approve referendum for 'gambling games at a casino to be developed in Linn County” by a 22-percentage-point margin, 61-to-39 percent.

September 2013: Cedar Rapids Development Group submits its formal application to the Iowa Racing & Gaming Commission for its casino project, Cedar Crossing Casino.

January: Cedar Crossing Casino makes its formal presentation to the commission.

February: The commission releases the results of two market studies conducted for the commission. Both conclude that a Cedar Rapids would 'cannibalize” casino customers from existing casinos, particularly from Riverside Casino & Golf Resort.

April 3: Four of five commissioners tour the Cedar Crossing Casino site. The tour is followed by a four-hour public hearing.

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