Iowa Senate will not vote on casino moratorium bill

DES MOINES — The head of the Iowa Senate’s State Government Committee announced on Tuesday afternoon that a bill that would place a five-year moratorium on new casinos in the state will not be brought up this session.

Republican Senator Ken Rozenboom of Oskaloosa says the bill does not have enough support from Senate Republicans to advance all the way through the process in the Senate, and he says the Senate is not going to keep getting bogged down on this issue for the rest of the session.

The Iowa House passed the bill last week on a 68-31 vote, as House supporters were hoping to get the bill through the legislature and to Governor Reynolds’ desk by Thursday, the day when the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission meets to decide whether or not to issue a license for a $275 million casino project in Cedar Rapids.

The proposed bill does have a retroactive clause in it, so if it did get passed by the Senate later in the session, it would overrule the commission if a license was awarded.

The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission rejected casino license proposals for Cedar Rapids in 2014 and 2017. Voters in Linn County passed another gambling referendum in 2021 to push the issue before the commission once again.