Owners of Iowa’s Lady Luck Casino Marquette and the venue’s license holder announced a new agreement that would secure the contribution of more money to Clayton County.
Sindee Gohde, Executive Director of the Upper Mississippi Gaming Corporation, a non-profit organization that is currently sponsoring Lady Luck Casino’s license, told media that a new deal had been signed and will become effective as of 2019, when the old agreement between the UMGC and gambling operator Isle of Capri is set to expire.
Under the terms of the new 25-year deal, the non-profit organization would receive 3.25% of the casino’s adjusted gross revenue. Isle of Capri would also have to pay the additional amount of $50,000 in July 2016, of $100,000 in July 2017, and of $200,000 in July 2018.
Under the existing agreement between the UMGC and Lady Luck Casino’s former owners, the corporation is granted only 50 cents per gambling customer. Mr. Gohde said that the UMGC has annually lost hundreds of thousands of dollars due to the fact that it has been paid on a head and not on a percentage. What is more, the number of gambling customers at Lady Luck Casino has been dropping for 11 years now.
According to the current Iowa gambling regulations, casino owners have to pay no less than 3% of their adjusted gross revenues to the non-profit corporation that sponsors their venues’ licenses. The UMGC said that currently, it grants the revenue it receives for public safety within Clayton County.
Last year, the non-profit corporation was paid $145,958, based on a total of 291,196 customers who gambled at the property. If, however, the 3.25% had been in effect, the UMGC would have received the amount of $868,293, based on annual adjusted gross revenue of $26,716,718.
Generally speaking, agreements between owners of Iowa-based gambling venues and non-profit license holders usually result in million of dollars being contributed to the counties that host the casinos. For instance, the Black Hawk County Gaming Association, the license sponsor for Waterloo-located Isle Casino, granted $8 million to Cedar Valley SportsPlex, a $27-million complex that opened doors in downtown Waterloo last year.
Under its agreement with Isle Casino owners, the BHCGA is contributed 5.75% of the casino’s adjusted gaming revenue, almost two times the minimum mandated by Iowa legislators.
