COUNCIL BLUFFS| Thursday morning (April 18th) the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission met to make their decision about which casino will get the gaming license for Sioux City.

Hard Rock Casino won the majority of the votes 3 to 2. The commissioners chose the $118-million land based casino proposal. The renovation of the old Battery Building will begin this summer and be up and running in the summer 2014.

Hard Rock Casino Sioux City is projecting to make $109-million in revenue in the first year. They are also proposing that over 500 jobs will be created for the project. That is good news for employees of the Argosy who will be looking for new jobs once the casino closes. It is believed that Hard Rock will hire many of the employees. Many of the 300 employees of the Argosy are still not happy about the IRGC decision to go with Hard Rock.

The Argosy will still be able to stay open until the Hard Rock officially opens. No, word yet from Penn, if they are going to continue to stay open or shut its doors.

Ho-Chunk won’t continue its plans to renovate the old warrior building. Opening the warrior building just as a hotel wouldn’t bring in enough revenue without having a gambling facility on site. Even though some are not happy about the decision, many in Sioux City feel it’s a great thing that will add to Sioux City and put it on the map.