Some will drive to Grand Island casino just to get away
Grand Island’s casino probably will draw customers from a wider area than Rhythm City Casino Resort at Davenport, Iowa, because Rhythm City is located in a heavily populated area.
Davenport is part of the Quad Cities, which is home to between 350,000 and 400,000 people.
Seventy percent to 80% of Rhythm City’s patrons live in the Quad Cities, said general manager Mo Hyder.
The rest generally come from 25 to 50 miles away.
Unlike many casinos, you won’t see many busloads of senior citizens pulling up to Rhythm City.
“I have a good customer base here,” Hyder says. “I don’t have to have a team that focuses on bring buses in to drive my business.”
But every casino’s business model is different, he said.
Two other Elite Casino properties, Grand Falls and Riverside, rely more on busloads of customers.
That’s because they’re not in the middle of a metropolitan area.
Grand Falls Casino and Golf Resort is at Larchwood, Iowa, east of Sioux Falls, S.D. Riverside Casino and Golf Resort is at Riverside, Iowa, south of Iowa City.
Still, people drive to Davenport from areas outside the Quad Cities. In the parking lot are a fair number of cars from Wisconsin, which is about 70 miles away.