UPDATE: In a brief special virtual meeting Monday morning, the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission voted unanimously not to pause its decisions to deny consideration of a petition from Riverside Casino and to issue a gaming license for a new Cedar Rapids casino.
The first decision was to deny a request for a stay on the IRGC’s Jan. 23 to not act on a petition filed in November by the Riverside Casino and the Washington County Riverboat Foundation (WCRF), which challenged Linn County’s 2021 gaming vote on logistical grounds.
Commission member Alan Ostergren, the only attorney on the five-member commission, said he felt the IRGC didn’t need to issue a stay on an action it didn’t take.
“In my view, the commission chose to not act,” Mr. Ostergren said. “So I don’t think we can stay inaction. You can really only stay action that the Commission takes. Because of that, there’s nothing to stay.”
Riverside Casino and the WCRF also requested a stay on the commission’s Feb. 6 decision to issue a new license for a Cedar Rapids casino.
In response, Mr. Ostergren said his legal research discovered a somewhat similar case decided by the Iowa Supreme Court in 1993 regarding an Iowa doctor overbilling patients. In that case, the court ruled that the overbilling issue wasn’t germaine to the doctor’s medical competency.
“The court’s analysis was you can’t refuse to stay the discipline in that situation, where there’s no public threat, and cut off the ability of the licensed professional to seek judicial review,” Mr. Ostergren said. “I don’t see that the challengers to the license, Riverside and the Washington County QSO, are deprived of their ability to go to court for judicial review if we deny a stay … we don’t deprive anybody of their right to other day in court by refusing to stay today.”
Board chair Daryl Olsen ordered IRGC staff will prepare a written ruling on both of Monday’s decisions.
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PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Meanwhile, a formal lawsuit filed by the Riverside Casino and WCRF could present an obstacle to developers’ plans to bring a new casino to Cedar Rapids.
The lawsuit was filed in Washington County District Court Feb. 6 – the same day the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission (IRGC) voted 4-1 to issue the state’s 20th gaming license to the Cedar Rapids Development Group and the Linn County Gaming Association for a new $275 million Cedar Crossing casino on the city’s northwest side.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held Feb. 7 at the site of the new casino, which is slated to be built on the site of the former Cooper’s Mill restaurant and hotel across the Cedar River from Quaker Oats.
Attorney Mike Weinhardt of the Weinhardt Law Firm in Des Moines, which represents the Riverside Casino and its nonprofit arm, the Washington County Riverboat Foundation, said the lawsuit is challenging two facets of the casino license approval – the IRGC’s issuance of a new license for Cedar Crossing and the IRGC’s decision to not issue a declaratory order on a petition filed in November that would have invalidated Linn County’s 2021 vote to approve gaming in the county.
The lawsuit again claims that the wording of the 2021 Linn County ballot measure was faulty under Iowa state code and that, as a result, the IRGC “lacks authority to issue a gambling games license in Linn County.”
Specifically, the petition for judicial review cites the specific wording of the ballot measure.
“Public Measure G unequivocally stated that ‘[i]f approved by a majority of the voters, operation of gambling games with no wager or loss limits may continue,’” the suit states. “However, there have never been licensed gambling games in Linn County. Accordingly, there were no games that the voters could authorize to ‘continue.’ A proposition requiring the approval or defeat of the continuation of gambling games is not a proposition that authorizes the origination of gambling games in the county.”
The IRGC decided on a 4-1 vote Jan. 23 not to officially consider the petition.
“We believe that the 2021 referendum simply asked Linn County voters the wrong question to support the issuance of a gaming license,” Mr. Weinhardt said in a written statement. “The Commission did not, under the Iowa Code, have the authority to provide the license it purported to issue (Friday).”
As a result, a separate petition asks the court to issue a stay on the license the IRGC approved Feb. 6. If issued, the stay would prevent developers from continuing work on the project, pending the resolution of the overall lawsuit.
“Whether the commission has the authority to issue a gaming license in Linn County is now a question for the courts, not the commission,” Mr. Weinhardt said. “We have filed legal actions to have the courts answer that question. We are also asking the courts to find, as we believe, that the cannibalization of other gaming properties by the proposed new casino is inconsistent with Iowa law. The only reasonable path forward now is for the commission to place the license in suspension and pause all development activities in Cedar Rapids. The courts must be allowed to resolve the legal status of this project. We have asked the commission to do just that.”
