Flashing lights, the ring of slot machines, the clinking of change- one would think they were in Vegas. Not quite. Iowa is, however, moving forward in the gambling empire.
The Iowa House and Senate have both voted to allow casinos to be built on land. For 20 years, law has stated that a casino or other gaming facility must be built on water. The new Riverside Casino seems that it is on land, but the gaming floor was built over a man-made pond to comply with a law passed in 2004.
The new legislation is expected to fuel the recent spike in interest in the gaming industry. The Riverside and soon-to-come Isle Of Capri- Waterloo casinos prove that the industry in Iowa is becoming a race to "keep up with the Joneses". The new casinos come with price tags of well over $100 million, and have the bells and whistles to prove it: over 1,000 slot machines, dozens of gaming tables, bigger poker rooms, indoor/outdoor pools, larger and more events centers, several restaurants, hundreds of rooms in each hotel, and extra luxuries such as golf courses. The new casinos are proving difficult to keep up with, and nearly all other casinos in eastern Iowa have undergone or are planning a large renovation to stay alive. "Much like any business, we're also very impacted by any level of competition, and as business people, it's our duty to explore all options, and that could include building facilities that include those kind of amenities." said Mo Hyder, vice president and general manager of the Isle of Capri- Bettendorf and Rhythm City- Davenport casinos earlier this year in the Gazette.
With 20 currently open casinos, Iowa is, believe it or not, ranked 22 in having the most casinos in the country. Don't look for a huge economic shift towards the gaming industry anytime soon though, we're a long way from #1 Nevada: 373 casinos, with an average construction cost of over $1 billion. It won't matter to us for a few years anyway- Iowa has very strict laws (and punishment) against any person under 21 on the floor.
