Lake Delhi Dam Breaks Causing Potential Iowa Gambling Decreases

Certain events take place that casinos cannot prepare for and one of those events occurred on Saturday in Iowa. The Lake Delhi Dam broke on Saturday, and the state of Iowa is now under severe flood warnings.

Iowa is one of the states where casino gambling has taken center stage and the revenue generated from the casinos has helped bridge budget gaps that were created by the economic recession. Iowa currently ranks in the top half of US states in terms of the amount of casinos in the state.

The 300 foot long breach in the dam, meanwhile, has caused evacuations in Eastern Iowa. The area had experienced a large amount of rain in recent days, and the dam broke after not being able to handle the unusually high levels of rain. Residents of Hopkinton only had five minutes to evacuate when authorities alerted them of the potential flooding.

Cedar rapids is one of the areas that potentially could be hit the hardest by the flooding. Cedar rapids is not one of the city's where casinos are located, with the most recent license going to Lyon County back in May.

An outside chance exists that casinos located far away from the flooding could actually gain customers this weekend. With many residents being forced to evacuate their homes, casino resort areas may become places that residents target to stay until the flooding has subsided.

"I have a couple of friends in Iowa and they said that they are preparing for the worst," said Mary Stuart, who lives in West Palm Beach, Florida. "They had been wanting to go away all summer, but today they told me they were going to leave their houses and head towards Ameristar (Casino)."

In recent days, the Gulf Coast has been hit by a tropical wave that threatened casinos on the coast. Mississippi and Louisiana casinos dealt with forced closures due to Hurricane Katrina several years back.

July 25, 2010
Posted By Terry Goodwin
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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