CEO Dan Kehl tells Exec Digital how the Riverside Casino and Golf Resort has raised the bar for gaming throughout the Midwest
Written by Kevin Doyle | Produced by Brandon BlochPerhaps the last thing you might expect to discover while traveling through the Midwest would be a Las Vegas-style resort. Yet that is precisely what you will encounter in Riverside, IA, in the eastern part of the state.
In short order, Riverside Casino & Golf Resort has set the bar for gaming throughout the Midwest. With 58,000sf of gaming space, Riverside offers everything from the industry, except sports betting and bingo. The complex includes an 18-hole championship golf course, 200-room hotel, numerous restaurants, a spa and show lounge.
“When you arrive at Riverside, you will be surprised how clean the air is for a gaming facility. You will be impressed with the amenities, the water features and especially our attention to customer service. Our employees separate us from our competition. We spend a significant amount of money on customer service and it shows,” says Riverside CEO Dan Kehl.
Riverside is fully vested in the community and region. The company is owned by 750 Iowans who invested in the resort prior to a gaming license being granted in May 2005.
Getting here from there
When Iowa first considered the legalization of riverboat gambling in 1989 as a way to revitalize river towns, Kehl’s family operated a successful riverboat dinner cruise business – and opposed casinos.
“We initially fought it. My parents, Bob and Ruth, started as a mom and pop restaurant, then went into riverboat dinner excursions. In 1986, they received the National Small Business of the Year Award from President Reagan in the White House. We were certainly concerned about gambling being the end of our business,” Kehl recalls.
“Once we figured out we weren’t going to beat them, we put our hat in the ring and received the first riverboat license in Iowa and in the nation,” Kehl says. The family opened the Dubuque Casino Belle in April 1991, the Mississippi Belle II in June 1991 and Catfish Bend Casino in 1994.
Initially, Iowa limited gambling on riverboats to a maximum $5 bet and maximum loss of $200 per cruise. When Illinois, Missouri and Mississippi debuted unlimited gambling, clients went elsewhere and one operator even pulled up stakes, leaving behind a $2.5 million bond debt in Burlington and Fort Madison, IA, where the boat had operated.
That’s when the Kehls started their next project that became the model for Riverside Casino & Golf Resort. “Basically, a group of local business leaders from the Burlingon-Fort Madison area got together and said ‘let’s put our own boat in’ as a matter of community pride. A lot of people invested a minimum of $500 through an Iowa intra-state stock offering. They came in contact with our family because we were building and selling riverboats. We matched what the community raised and became a 50/50 partner with them,” says Kehl of the Catfish Bend Casino project.
The model appealed to Kehl, who used it again when the state began granting additional licenses.
“That business model gave the community a lot of input into how the company was being run. We were able to convince the legislature that the state was ready for land-based gambling and successfully lobbied for legislation that would allow for the first land-based casino,” Kehl says.
More than gambling
Riverside’s guests can enjoy themselves without ever placing a wager. “There is something here for everyone to do,” Kehl asserts.
The Blue Top Ridge Golf Course, designed by world-renowned golf course architect Rees Jones, plays to a hefty +7,500 yards from the championship tees and was ranked third among Golf Magazine’s 2007 Top 10 New Courses You Can Play.
“A family friend in the golf course irrigation business knew Rees and said he would contact him. Rees toured the property and fell in love with it. It’s hills, prairie and a river plain with the Iowa River all in one,” Kehl says. Patrons can also have their swings evaluated at the state-of-the-art Riverside Performance Studio, which opened late last year.
Riverside boasts an array of restaurants as well as concerts at the Events Center. Jay Leno headlined the casino’s opening festivities and upcoming acts include comedian Joel McHale Heart, Merle Haggard, Styx and The Pointer Sisters. Free nightly shows on the weekend are offered in the Show Lounge and Riverside is also the host site for this year’s National Hovercraft Association of America HOVERALLY.
Flourishing in a bad economy
Riverside is located in the Iowa City and Cedar Rapids corridor, which has the nation’s lowest unemployment rate.
“We have the university hospital at the University of Iowa, stable government jobs and a strong agriculture economy. We’re not seeing the same things they’re seeing in Vegas. We don’t have the huge upswings they have on the West Coast and the East Coast, so we don’t have the same downturns. We’re more steady as she goes,” Kehl notes. Federal recovery money to help rebuild from a significant flood last year is also helping boost the economy.
Kehl says the company began implementing contingency plans to offset the slumping economy in January. “In general, we started managing our payroll dollars more closely. We adjusted restaurant hours and our overtime dollars are down 38 percent in the first quarter. Our managers and supervisors are managing their departments much better. Our goal is not to lay anybody off – we’ll do whatever we can to keep our people in place,” he says.
While 2009 revenue is flat in comparison to 2008, net income is up significantly and Kehl says “I’m cautiously optimistic that we’ll come out of this okay.”
Pending capital improvement plans include the development of an adjacent 400-acre parcel with a 70-acre lake into an RV resort; and the addition of a full entertainment theater.
People and training
Riverside employs 750 with approximately two-thirds of employees from the immediate area. They are trained and treated well, Kehl says.
“All of our managers and supervisors go through a six-month training course on site. We bring in outside consultants and that training filters down to our front-line employees,” he explains.
An employee wellness center has three fitness trainers on staff. “We encourage and incentivize employees in numerous ways. For example, we have them set wellness goals. Every two months they re-visit them and, if they’ve met the goal, they get a paid day off. That’s an opportunity for six paid days off a year,” Kehl says.
“Riverside generated $104 million in gross revenue in 2008,” Kehl says, “but I still run it very much as a family business and have an open door policy.”
The resort is just 15 minutes south of Interstate-80 (Iowa City) and one minute east of Highway 218 (the Avenue of the Saints that connects St. Paul, MN, and St. Louis, MO). An easy drive from DesMoines and Chicago, Riverside Casino & Golf Resort seems likely to remain a destination location for years to come.