No dice! Jasper County voters deny casino gambling measure

Roger Patterson signs in to cast his vote at the Jasper County Community Center Tuesday afternoon. Looking on are poll workers (from left) Judie Butin, Harriett Allspach, Suzanne Van Zandt and Carol Davidson. John Jennings/Daily News

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Plans for a county casino came up snake eyes on Tuesday after Jasper County residents overwhelmingly voted down a measure on Tuesday that would have allowed a casino to be built in Newton. The vote kills the casino project in the foreseeable future. Nearly 62 percent of votes were cast against allowing casino gambling. Unofficial totals showed 4,252 votes against compared to 2,614 favoring it. The outcome of the hotly debated issue surprised people on both sides, several of whom waited Tuesday evening for results to be posted in the Jasper County Courthouse. Dan Kelley, coordinator of the Jasper Citizens for Casino Truth group, was thrilled when he saw the measure had been voted down, although he admitted he was surprised by the large margin. The measure was voted down by every precinct in Newton, except one. It was opposed by even larger margins in some surrounding communities. “We’re very pleased with the outcome and proud of our efforts,” Kelley said. “Now is the time for our county to move forward, and I believe the people of Jasper County spoke today very clearly that they want to focus on industry — where you create a product here and sell it elsewhere, bringing money into the market — entrepreneurship and jobs that attract college graduates.” Equally surprised by the lopsided results was Dennis Julius, a member of the Jasper County Gaming Development Corporation who had worked hard to facilitate a proposed casino project between Interstate 80 and Iowa Speedway. West Des Moines-based developer Regency had purchased land and proposed the casino project, which was projected to bring up to 600 jobs. The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission in March decided not to accept new casino licenses this year and to study the impact of new casinos. Casino supporters hoped that with a positive vote on Tuesday, the commission would grant the Jasper County a casino license in the future. The no vote ensures that can’t happen. “We’re very disappointed,” Julius said. “We worked hard to bring a facility to Newton and to Jasper County that would bring jobs and economic development, but the voters have spoken and that’s the way it should have been. Again, this was an idea that we thought would be positive for the community and the county, but it went to the voters, they said ‘no’ so we’ll respect their wishes.” Leading up to the election the two sides waged a war of words throughout the community with yard signs, in coffee shops and on the opinion pages of the Newton Daily News. The pro-casino group touted economic benefits of casinos like creation of jobs and capturing tourism dollars. The anti-casino group cited increases in gambling addiction and crime, as well as the effect gambling can have on families as reasons to keep gambling out of Jasper County. “Casinos bring a wake of destruction that is not welcome here,” Kelley said. “Gambling addiction increases in counties that have casinos and we made a real strong statement about how important our families are in Jasper County.” Julius worried that residents may later regret letting the opportunity for this economic development pass. “We feel that we’ve let a golden opportunity slip through our hands, we had everything in place to build a casino. Everything was there but with a ‘no’ vote, it’s not going to happen now.”