Cedar Rapids attorney sues Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission

CEDAR RAPIDS - Eugene Kopecky, a retired Cedar Rapids attorney and one-time Linn County attorney, is taking on the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission in an effort to win a state gaming license for a Cedar Rapids casino.

Kopecky filed a lawsuit this week in Linn County District Court against the commission and the four of five commission members who voted April 17 to deny a state gaming license to casino investor group Cedar Rapids Development Group LLC.

Kopecky, who has practiced law in Cedar Rapids since 1966, said Thursday that his lawsuit seeks a declaratory judgment. He said he wants the court to instruct the commission on the state's gaming law in a way that would require the commission to revisit the Cedar Rapids casino application and grant a state gaming license.

Kopecky said the state's gaming law requires voters in a county to approve gaming before a casino is permitted to operate.

'It is county-driven,” he said.

He said state law doesn't give the state commission the ability to deny a casino license in one county based on a license in another county, he said.

In its 4-1 vote denying a license for the proposed Cedar Rapids casino, the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission said Eastern Iowa has a sufficient number of casinos and that a Cedar Rapids casino would harm existing casinos, especially the Riverside Casino and Golf Resort south of Iowa City.

Kopecky said the Cedar Rapids casino investor group, led by businessman Steve Gray, is not a part of his lawsuit against the commission. He has not talked to Gray, he said.

Kopecky hinted that a lawsuit could be coming in an April 26 guest column in The Gazette when he said that the commission's April decision did not serve Iowans and particularly did not serve Linn County residents who voted to allow casino gaming. Instead, the commission voted to protect existing state-licensed casinos from competition, he said.

Kopecky said the commission was not serving the 216,000 residents of Linn County, Iowa's second largest county, by requiring them to drive 80 miles to and from a casino rather than making it possible to use a casino close to where they reside.

On Thursday, Kopecky said his lawsuit could take more than two years to make its way through the Iowa court system if a decision in Linn County District Court is appealed.

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