Lawmaker to propose moratorium on new Iowa casinos

The 2025 Iowa legislative session begins Monday and a key lawmaker plans to propose a moratorium on new casinos in Iowa.

Representative Bobby Kaufmann’s bill would ultimately block the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission from considering a casino license application from Cedar Rapids.

“Planning to pursue it early,” Kaufmann says, “because obviously the elephant in the room is the deadline with the IRGC.”

On February 6, state gambling regulators are scheduled to vote on the proposed $275 million casino, which would be located in northwest Cedar Rapids. Kaufmann says the commission’s rules for evaluating casino license applications are too vague.

“The bill actually outlines what steps a new casino should take to get a license and the standards which consider things like…saturation levels,” Kaufmann says, “so kind of a roadmap for folks on how to get a casino license.”

The state’s existing casinos support a moratorium — arguing a new casino in Cedar Rapids would draw customers from casinos in Riverside and Waterloo. Last April, the Iowa House overwhelmingly voted for a casino moratorium that would last through 2029, but the proposal was not considered by the Iowa Senate. Kaufmann says there’s growing support for a moratorium.

“A lot of us are getting contacted by folks in our district that work in existing casinos and are asking us to pursue this,” Kaufmann says.

A previous moratorium on new casinos expired in July and Cedar Rapids quickly launched its third attempt to land a state casino license. Backers of the Cedar Crossing development in Cedar Rapids say the state’s second largest city has the right to compete for a casino without interference from lawmakers.

The Riverside Casino has asked the Racing and Gaming Commission to reject the application from Cedar Rapids, arguing a Linn County gambling referendum approved in 2021 was incorrectly worded. Recent studies have found a casino in Cedar Rapids would pay $80 million in new taxes, while diverting about $68 million from casinos in Riverside, Waterloo and Dubuque.