Greene County voters will not only need to decide on their respective city and school board elections on November 2nd, but there will also be an additional question on the ballot whether or not to continue gambling in the county.

Wild Rose Chief Operating Officer and President Tom Timmons tells Raccoon Valley Radio Iowa law requires two consecutive approval votes for gambling to remain in Greene County. The second vote must take place eight years after the initial passage. 

Timmons says over those eight years, Wild Rose Jefferson has given over $9 million of its adjusted gross revenue to different charities, including Grow Greene County Gaming Corporation, which is also the non-profit gaming license holder, and has impacted several community projects. Additionally, Timmons says they contributed over $5 million in property taxes, as well as an automatic 0.5-percent payments to the county and the City of Jefferson as the host city of its gambling facility. Wild Rose also donated $100,000 to the Greene County Medical Center addition project and recently gave $100,000 toward the Greene County Early Learning Center building project. 

Timmons talks about what would happen if the second vote fails to receive a simple majority vote of 50-percent plus one.

“We’d have about six months to close the facility, and the facility (is then) closed and the jobs are gone, (and) the money stops flowing. There cannot be another vote then taken for eight years to see if we could bring it back. I will tell you this, every vote that I have been a part of, when a casino is operating, they’ve all passed the second time.”

The initial vote that happened in August of 2013, Greene County voted overwhelmingly in favor by 75-percent, which was the highest initial approval in Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission history. If the vote were to pass again on November 2nd, no further votes are necessary.