The Des Moines Register
The third time is the charm for a Cedar Rapids casino.
The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission on Thursday voted 4-1 to award Linn County casino backers a gaming license for the $275 million Cedar Crossing casino near downtown Cedar Rapids, ending a years-long quest to bring a gambling facility to Iowa’s second-largest city — for now.
“Cedar Rapids deserves this,” Cedar Rapids Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell said after the commission’s vote at Prairie Meadows Casino, Racetrack and Hotel in Altoona. “It’s only taken us 12 years to get here.”
The prospect of a Cedar Rapids casino has been contentious, as influential existing gaming operators and lawmakers in or near districts with casinos brought the knives out to block the casino from coming to fruition.
