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Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Cedar Rapids casino backers break ground, predict New Year’s Eve 2026 opening
Riverside Casino & Golf Resort filed a petition Thursday asking a district court to pause issuance of a gambling license in Linn County
Feb. 7, 2025 3:49 pm, Updated: Apr. 23, 2025 11:29 am
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CEDAR RAPIDS — Less than 26 hours after the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission voted to grant a gaming license to build a planned $275 million casino and entertainment center near downtown Cedar Rapids, the Cedar Rapids Development Group broke ground on the new facility Friday.
The celebration, however, may be premature.
Nearby Riverside Casino & Golf Resort has asked an Iowa District Court to immediately pause issuance of a gambling license in Linn County, which could halt construction, arguing state regulators lacked the legal authority to do so and ignored their own regulations in granting approval to build the casino.
The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission is scheduled to meet Monday to discuss and consider the legal challenge and a motion to stay the casino license.
Commission Chair Daryl Olsen, a Republican from Audubon, said at IRGC’s meeting Thursday that after consulting with commission legal counsel and a representative from the Iowa Attorney General’s Office, “a majority of the commissioners are satisfied that we have the authority to move forward and make this decision.”
In Cedar Rapids on Friday, Brent Stevens, president of Peninsula Pacific Entertainment, told the crowd at the groundbreaking ceremony to mark their calendar for New Year’s Eve 2026, a date around 22 months from now when the facility hopes to open.
The proposed Cedar Crossing Casino & Entertainment Center will include 700 slot machines, 22 game tables, restaurants, bars, an entertainment venue with a capacity of 1,500 people, an arts and cultural center, and a STEM lab for children.
Casino backers’ long-held dreams to build a gambling facility in Cedar Rapids had been repeatedly thwarted in the past — both by lawmakers and state regulators — over concerns that a new facility would drain or “cannibalize” revenues from Iowa’s current 19 commercial casinos and four tribal casinos.
Iowa House lawmakers last year and this year passed legislation that would have blocked state regulators from issuing new casino licenses, after a two-year moratorium that was adopted in 2022 expired last summer.
In both cases, the proposal died in the Senate.
“... People stood up, put their shoulders back, and look what happened when we all did that and walked in the same direction. This is what Cedar Rapids looks like,” Cedar Rapids Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell told casino supporters at the groundbreaking ceremony. “We just shot a Caitlin Clark logo three friends, nothing but net.”
Lawsuit seeks immediate pause on issuing gambling license
Riverside Casino & Golf Resort and the Washington County Riverboat Foundation — its nonprofit affiliate and gaming license holder — filed a petition for judicial review Thursday in Washington County District Court challenging the commission’s decision.
The petition states the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission “did not have lawful authority to issue this license under Iowa Code § 99F.7(11), and its purported issuance was, otherwise, unreasonable, arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion.”
Under Iowa law, the IRGC may issue a license to conduct gambling games only after voters in the county approve the conduct of gambling games.
The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission last month declined to decide whether a 2021 Linn County gambling referendum allows a casino to be built in Cedar Rapids.
The referendum ballot language said gambling "may continue."
Riverside Casino & Golf Resort, which a market study suggests could lose more than $30 million of revenue annually if the Cedar Rapids casino is built, contends that the approval for gambling is invalid because gambling had never begun in the county.
It asked the commission to issue a declaratory order that said it lacks the authority to issue a gambling license in Linn County because of the invalid language. The commission voted 4-1 Jan. 23 to refuse the request. Riverside had 30 days to appeal that refusal to District Court.
The petition also asserts commissioners ignored the IRGC’s own regulations that require the commission to consider the economic impact of any newly issued license on existing licensees and the state of Iowa.
“Although the net economic impact of the Linn County Casino on the state of Iowa, especially on rural communities and casino licensees, is negative, a majority of the Commissioners simply ignored this fact, opting instead to focus solely on the positive impact of the Linn County Casino on Linn County, in contravention of legislative intent and administrative rules,” the petition states
“The IRGC’s issuance of a license for the Linn County Casino is a gross abuse of authority, unlawful, and unreasonable. The Court should prevent this abuse of power and unlawful act. It should stay the effect of the issuance of the license, and then reverse the issuance of the license.”
Riverside Casino also filed a separate motion seeking an immediate pause on the issuance of a gambling license in Linn County and “any and all actions or activities in reliance on the vote to approve of the application for a license” during the judicial review, including construction.
It asked the court for expedited consideration of the motion, based on news reports that Peninsula Pacific Entertainment intends to move quickly on construction.
The casino license, valid through Jan. 31, 2028, is conditioned on the following:
- Payment of the first installment of the license fee within 30 days;
- Posting of a $1 million bond;
- Completion of necessary IRGC licensing and DCI backgrounds for all casino personnel and entities;
- Obtaining all required state and local approvals for construction of the project;
- Approval by the commission and by DCI of appropriate security response plan;
- Approval by commission staff of all internal controls and regulatory requirements prior to opening;
- A status report of any construction progress and anticipated construction timeline to be presented at the June 2025 IRGC meeting;
- Substantial completion of the entire project by April 30, 2027 in essentially the same form as represented to commission.
If the project is not completed by Oct. 31, 2027, the casino developer will be subject to a $61,780 fine.
Developer commits to donating millions to local nonprofits
Casino developer Peninsula Pacific Entertainment and the Linn County Gaming Association have committed to distributing 8 percent of net adjusted gross revenue, or about $6 million annually, to nonprofit organizations — more than twice the state-mandated minimum. Of that, 10 percent would be distributed to nonprofits in adjacent counties.
An influx of funding from a casino would help nonprofits meet needs and expand services in areas like foster care, homelessness, food insecurity and health care, Linn County Gaming Association President Anne Parmley said Friday.
LGA is the nonprofit affiliate and charitable arm that jointly applied for a casino license with P2E.
“We're going to make life changing impacts to our nonprofits in this community … You know, the more revenue we generate, the better we do, the more good we can do,” Parmley said at the groundbreaking ceremony.
Facility to be located in northwest Cedar Rapids
The site for the casino and entertainment center, located at F Avenue NW, used to host the Best Western Cooper’s Mill hotel until it was demolished after sustaining damage in the 2008 and 2016 floods.
The facility will include:
- Clubhouse by Zach Johnson: Features locally-sourced steaks and chops, local brews and cocktails, bearing the name of the Cedar Rapids native and PGA Tour golfer
- World's Fare: Features dishes like Indian street tacos, Korean-inspired crispy fried-chicken, Mediterranean wraps
- River's Edge Smokehouse and Tap: Features Iowa Titan Tenderloin, pulled pork, burgers and more
- A 1,500-capacity entertainment venue
- An Arts & Cultural Center and STEM lab
- 1,143 parking spaces
- Free shuttle service to area hotels, downtown, the Kingston Yard Development, and the Czech Village and New Bohemia districts
Comments: megan.woolard@thegazette.com
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