Fair distribution of gaming funds needed

Thank you to Sen. Adrian Dickey for SF 2101 Casino Fairness Bill. This will allow all casinos to provide more fair distribution of their gaming funds to all Iowans, especially those who gamble in those casinos!

As Admin for The Greater Jefferson County Foundation for the past 20 years, I had no idea the formula for this distribution was so skewed. I assumed that ALL Iowa counties received the same amount of gambling funds from the casino revenue. A grant application in 2024 to The Greater Jefferson County Foundation for the Fairfield Fire Station led to perusal of the WCRF website to see with my own eyes how much money is spent in Washington County from revenue from their casino. It's mind-blowing, to say the least. Because WCRF denied grant funds for Fairfield's new fire station, The Greater Jefferson County pledged $100K/year for 5 years and this will reduce the amount of grant funding The Greater Jefferson County Foundation can do for many Jefferson County nonprofit organizations, but the fire station is very important to our Jefferson County community.

Since 2006, only $30K (m/l) has been awarded to Jefferson County grants from WCRF. These include organizations like Noah's Ark, The Lord's Cupboard, BandAides and most recently, Carry On Bags, all worthy recipients. But take into consideration that WCRF has awarded organizations in Washington County over $52 MILLION. The Greater Jefferson County Foundation receives a publication annually regarding statewide foundations and distributions of gaming money. WCRF shows in this publication that they cover 17 counties, and 10 of those counties have never received any funding at all, and again, Jefferson County has only received $30,000 in 20 years.

I don't think it's too much to ask to determine how much revenue from gambling guests has been created from each county, and then award funding accordingly. And I applaud Sen. Dickey for taking up the call for fairness with this issue.

Barbara Kistler, Fairfield