A rendering shows the proposed Cedar Crossing Casino in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (Image/Peninsula Pacific Entertainment)

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — The Iowa Racing & Gaming Commission has voted to grant a gaming license for a new casino in Cedar Rapids.

Commission members voted 4-1 at their Feb. 6, 2025, meeting at Prairie Meadows Racetrack & Casino in Altoona, Iowa, to award the license to joint applicants Cedar Rapids Development Group and the Linn County Gaming Association.

Commissioners cited a potential net gain in proceeds for the state, while Chairman Daryl Olsen pointed to other elements in the proposal in voting in favor of the project.

“It provides much more than gaming, which is so important to me,” Olsen said, citing restaurants, a cultural center and other amenities that will be within the complex.

Alan Ostergren, an attorney and the lone dissenting vote, called into question whether or not the commission had the authority to grant the license, an issue that was raised prior to the meeting.

“That’s not been resolved to my satisfaction,” Ostergren said, adding that the commission was basing their decisions on fact, “not emotion.”

Along with Olsen, commission members Mark Campbell, Julie Andres and Amy Burkhart voted in favor of granting the license.

The vote came the same week that Iowa legislators dropped a proposal for a five-year moratorium on new casinos in the state. While the Iowa House passed a bill last week establishing a moratorium on new casinos through 2030, a Senate committee failed to debate the measure, effectively killing the bill for the time being.

More: Cedar Rapids homes restored after flood demolished for casino

Demolition equipment stands ready to remove homes on G Avenue NW, on Dec. 29, 2024. (photo/Cindy Hadish)

Called Cedar Crossing Casino & Entertainment Center, the new casino is expected to “cannibalize” revenue from existing casinos, including the Meskwaki Bingo Casino Hotel in Tama County, Riverside Casino & Golf Resort in Washington County and Isle Casino Hotel in Waterloo, each just an hour’s drive or less from Cedar Rapids.

Cedar Rapids Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell said in spite of threatened litigation by Riverside Casino, challenging the decision, the project would proceed immediately.

“We’ll be moving ground tomorrow,” she said after the vote. “Wasting no time.”

Groundbreaking is set for 11 a.m. Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. The casino is expected to take 18 to 20 months to complete. The commission set a deadline of October 31, 2027, for the project to be finished.

Commission members visited the site of the proposed $275 million casino in November 2024. The site, along Fourth Street NW between F and G avenues, is in the 100-year floodplain and was decimated during the record 2008 flood in Cedar Rapids.

The former Cooper’s Mill, which was demolished in 2017 after being flooded both in 2008 and 2016, had been at the site, while homes from a residential neighborhood have also been demolished to make way for the casino in recent weeks. The complex will be built above the flood plain.

See final photos of Cooper’s Mill

A study showed the casino could generate annual net revenue of $60 million.

Cedar Crossing will have 700 slot machines and 22 table games; dining options, including Zach Johnson’s Clubhouse, River’s Edge Smokehouse and Tap, World’s Fare, Center Court Sportsbar and Strings Guitar Bar.

The proposed casino would have restaurants and bars that could potentially compete with local restaurants and bars in Cedar Rapids.

The 1,500-capacity venue would host a wide range of events, including concerts, trade shows and sporting events.

It will also include a STEM Lab, something opponents have cited as normalizing gambling for youths who would use the lab.

As do other casinos in Iowa, the facility will allow smoking, even as other public venues prohibit it under Iowa’s smokefree law. A smoke-free section is planned.

Once operational, Cedar Crossing is expected to create 300 full-time jobs. The impact on area restaurants and bars, which have been challenged with finding employees in recent years, is unknown.

Casino leaders have pledged to contribute 8 percent of net adjusted gross revenue to local nonprofit organizations, while opponents have pointed to gambling addiction and other social problems that can increase with a nearby casino.

Proponents have projected $6 million annually could go to nonprofits in Linn County, with 10 percent of that going to adjacent counties.

Read more: Opponents and backers of casino speak out

Members of the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission make a site visit for the proposed Cedar Crossing Casino in northwest Cedar Rapids on Nov. 20, 2024. (photo/Cindy Hadish)