Gambling in Iowa
March 13th, 2006 at 01:12pm Chase Martyn
AP reports that Iowa’s casino industry is booming, and the figures they offer are pretty astounding. Over $740 million is being invested in casinos in Iowa right now:
Iowa’s casino industry is in the midst of a multi-million dollar expansion boom. Four new riverboat casinos will open in the next 14 months, while ten existing casinos are adding more space. The total is about $742 million.
About 18 million people visit Iowa’s existing riverboat and racetrack casinos each year, leaving behind more than one billion dollars. The new casinos are expected to generate an additional $200 million a year in gambling revenue.
And then there’s TouchPlay, that political football that has gotten more attention than really anything else in the Iowa media (check today’s Des Moines Register for a decent summary of the issue up to now). Political Forecast quotes the Cedar Rapids Gazette:
Blouin said that although he wished the games hadn’t been installed in about 2,900 Iowa businesses, “”it’s kind of hard to pull the plug.”
Culver urged the Legislature to move quickly to enact the safeguards recommended by Vilsack’s TouchPlay task force. He’s concerned that banning the games would negatively affect small businesses that have invested in the machines.
Nussle, who participated through a previously videotaped interview, has said he prefers the machines be banned.
Fallon said he would vote to ban the machines when the Iowa House debates the issue Tuesday.
Related Posts
Entry Filed under: Gubernatorial, Gambling Controversy
Related Searches: one billion dollars, riverboat casinos, cedar rapids gazette, des moines register, iowa media
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed