New steps today are pushing the move to get Rhythm City on land. The casino's owners say there's an agreement on the table, and negotiations are looking good.
"It's a step forward, they're making some progress but again, this whole issue is going to have to go through a lot of twist and turns, there's different parts, different people involved," Mayor Bill Gluba says.
With a price tag said to be in the $45 to 55 million dollar range and several parties involved, progress has been slow. Now with a new company in mind, the wheels are finally turning.
"They said they were further along than they've been for quite some time," 6th Ward Alderman Jeff Justin says, "It's not necessarily with the company we have a development agreement with MSEG, but it may be with a third party."
The casino, the developer, and the casino's license holder, the Riverboat Development Authority, are all in talks to get this done. The RDA counts on revenue from the casino to support local non-profits, donating over $53 million to local organizations since 1991. Every day talks are at a standstill is another day the money is stumped too.
"The Riverboat Development Authority, they're losing money to Bettendorf and to Dubuque and Illinois, so it's important to Davenport that we get a gaming outfit that has a little bit more revenue generated," Justin says.
As for the casino's customers, most would like to see it stay on the water.
"I think the majority of the people that come here like the boat," one patron says.
"I like the location right now, but if they're going move to an outlying area of Davenport, it'd be OK as long as it's not centralized," another patron says, "It should be more residential in the central."
"It seems like it'd be more convenient, it'd be downtown parking, but I think it's a great idea to move it downtown," says another Rhythm City customer.
Now that an agreement is on the table, the potential operator needs to finalize it with the city and the Riverboat Development Authority which oversees the casino's license.
The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission tells us they'd like to see the matter resolved, but have been given no timeline as to when that might be.
