“We believe our product is the state of Iowa and the beautiful Mississippi River.
“We don’t believe our product is gambling we believe our attraction is gambling,” says Mick Lura, administrator of the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission. As if to punctuate the point, one of the boats docks at the site of a former J.I. Iowa suffered a double whammy: Not only did farm incomes and land values take a dive, but the major manufacturing industry, agricultural equipment, collapsed in their wake.
The goal is to create a tourism industry that will generate enough jobs and revenue to diversify an economy that was devastated by the farm crisis of the early 1980s. First get the tourists here, then show them everything else the state has to offer.
