Gamblers lose $879 million in Iowa last year

Thursday, July 13, 2000 | 9:19 a.m.

"It is fair to say we have enough gambling in Iowa," said Iowa House Speaker Brent Siegrist, a Council Bluffs Republican whose community has three casinos. "Clearly, we are not going to issue any more gambling licenses."

The success of Iowa's casino industry provided $188 million in gambling taxes to the state treasury during the past budget year. County and city governments received a total of about $8.7 million in gambling taxes.

The racing commission report said 21 million customers were admitted to state-regulated gambling businesses over the past years. Those customers lost an average of $41 per visit playing slot machines or casino table games.

One of the factors behind the increase in gambling revenues was the January opening of the $50 million Lakeside Casino Resort in Osceola. Another was an expansion of the Ameristar Casino-Hotel in Council Bluffs, where casino revenues rose 20 percent in the past year.

At the Belle of Sioux City, a spruced-up riverboat complex and new slot machines resulted in a 33 percent increase in gambling revenues.

But casinos in Davenport, Dubuque and Clinton showed revenues were flat or dropped slightly.

"The places that have been reinvesting in their facilities have been carrying the ball," said Jack Ketterer, racing commissioner administrator.

The commission's figures do not include casinos owned by American Indian tribes at Tama, Onawa and Sloan.

Iowa's casino industry has a potentialer said. But some casino executives are reluctant to spend money for major improvements until gambling ballot issues are decided in two years, he said.

Under Iowa law, a referendum will be held in November 2002 in every county with a riverboat or racetrack to determine whether legalized casino gambling should continue.

Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino remained the financial leader of Iowa's casino industry during the past fiscal year. The Altoona gambling hall raked in $147 million from slot machines, up 5.7 percent from a year ago. It attracted 3.1 million customers in the past year, down 6.2 percent, with at least part of the decline because of competition from Osceola's casino.

"We think we're doing really, really well," said Gary Palmer, the Prairie Meadows senior vice president of operations. He noted that the once-bankrupt horse track is debt-free and that it has provided millions of dollars to Polk County in recent years. Polk County owns Prairie Meadows, which is operated by the nonprofit Racing Association of Central Iowa.

Ketterer and Palmer said they expect Prairie Meadows to attract more customers in October after a $23 million expansion is finished. Both agreed the huge construction project has hurt casino attendance in recent months.