A fresh take on Davenport casino discussion

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By The Quad-City Times Editorial Board | Thursday, July 24, 2008 |

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Davenport gaming study

Armed with new information and new plans, the Isle of Capri and City of Davenport are in a promising position to move forward, a welcome change in direction for a casino debate mired in the past.

The Isle has a new strategy to rebrand the Davenport casino as “Lady Luck” and give it a $9 million makeover. The City of Davenport has a new study that suggests a significantly higher investment can yield significantly higher revenues for the city and the Isle.

The question is: Can the city and the Isle move forward together?

The first step in that direction means both have to stop looking backward. Behind them is a tangled mess of ambitious, then abandoned plans. The path ahead requires more information, more disclosure and honest discussion of some essential gambling facts.

Fact one: This year alone, Rhythm City taxes generated $283,318 for the city; $283,318 for Scott County; and $10.7 million for the state of Iowa. The Riverboat Development Authority in May distributed another $2 million generated by the Isle’s Rhythm City. These are serious numbers for a boat considered to be on the skids.

Fact two: Intense casino competition and a lagging economy must influence our community’s expectations for this casino license. Gaming is drawing fewer out-of-town players. Our community already has one completed casino hotel complex and another under way. The Isle and City of Davenport must move cautiously before creating a third casino hotel destination in an era of $4 per gallon gasoline.

One more fact worth noting: While Davenport’s gaming fortunes have dwindled and Bettendorf’s have risen, the funding delivered through each city’s casino authorities never stopped at a municipal border. Both the RDA and the Scott County Regional authorities have used their casino winnings to fund city, school, arts and non-profits in all of Scott County, and Rock Island County, too. Since gambling began, the two authorities have contributed almost identical amounts directly to the City of Davenport. The Davenport-based RDA provided $5.67 million in grants directly to the city. The Bettendorf-based SCRA provided $5.74 million directly to the City of Davenport.

When it comes to education, the Bettendorf-based SCRA has given $8 million to the Davenport public school district. That’s four times more than the Davenport-based RDA provided in grants directly to Davenport schools.

So the benefits of all Iowa Quad-City gambling continue to be shared even as Isle revenue shifts to Bettendorf. Similarly, Davenport must keep the entire community in mind as it updates its casino-development strategy.

That strategy mustn’t revolve around fond recollections of Davenport as Iowa’s casino pioneer, or lingering resentment over the Isle’s change of plans. Moving forward with the Isle means starting with a clean slate, still mindful of the contentious past, but not consumed by it. The Isle has moved forward by breaking its long, uncomfortable silence and delivering a modest renovation plan. The City of Davenport has moved forward with a less contentious city council and a new study offering more information on the casino license’s value.

The next step is honest, collaborative, forward-looking negotiations to use the city’s gaming license in a way that makes sense over the next decade, not the last.