By Rick Smith, The Gazette
JOHNSTON — State gaming commissioners Thursday morning said they will not welcome new applications for additional state casino licenses for the next three years.
Each of the five Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission members spoke in support of taking a pause in the consideration of any new applications from communities that sought to add to the state’s now 19 state-licensed casinos.
Jeff Lamberti, who was re-elected as the commission chairman, said his current term on the commission has three years to run, and he said he would not be in favor of any new applications in that time.
However, Lamberti and the other commissioners stopped short of any firm moratorium on new applications, saying that circumstances could change. Lamberti, though, doubted that they would.
He and other commissioners pointed to market studies of Iowa’s gaming industry conducted this year which they said concluded that the gaming market in Iowa is all but saturated.
In addition, he and the others also said the state will see three new casinos come on line in the next year or so, and they said they wanted to see those get up and running to see what impact they have on gaming in Iowa.
A new land-based casino in Sioux City, which replaces a riverboat casino there, opens on Friday. The commission awarded a state gaming license to Greene County in June, and a casino there will open in a year. In addition, the casino in Davenport is moving from a riverboat to a new land-based casino, with construction set to start soon.
The statement from the commissioners on new applications mirrors one that the commission with a different makeup of commissioners made in 2010.
In 2010, the commissioners said they would have no interest in accepting new applications for three to five years.
In 2013, a little beyond the three-year mark, Linn County and Greene County each held a successful county gaming referendum and, subsequently, each applied for a casino license.
In April, the commission, on a 4-1 vote, turned down a proposal for a Cedar Rapids casino in Linn County, saying it would harm other casinos, especially the one in Riverside south of Iowa City.
In June, the commission, on a 3-2 vote, approved a license for a smaller casino in Greene County west of Ames, saying it was one spot in the state that could handle a new casino without harming others.
Mayor Ron Corbett has said he will seek a path to a Cedar Rapids casino license through the Iowa Legislature in 2015.
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