The Kehl family business started in the 1960’s when Bob and Ruth Kehl bought and ran a café in downtown Dubuque, Iowa. By the 1970’s they were also in the catering business and had purchased a 150-passenger steamwheeler, “River Rogue” for dinner cruises.

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3. Riverboat Gambling On The Mississippi
4. Riverboat Gambling Indiana
5. Riverboat Casinos In Iowa
6. Riverboat Gambling In Iowa

In all, the Kehls operated four riverboat casinos in the midwest: Dubuque Casino Bell, the Mississippi Belle II, Catfish Bend Casino, and St. Joe Frontier Casino. When land-based casinos were licensed in 2004, the Kehls led the Iowa gaming industry forward, opening Riverside Casino and Golf Resort in 2006 and Grand Falls Casino and Golf Resort. The history of casino cruises and riverboat casinos in the United States goes back to the beginning of the 19th century when the Mississippi River was a major trade center for farmers and merchants. The river towns became major attraction for professional gamblers, also known as cardsharps, who were hunting the travelers who used to carry large.

In 1977, the Kehls commissioned a 377-passenger “Spirit of Dubuque.” The Mississippi Belle and Mississippi Belle II followed in the 80’s. In 1986, the business expanded to West Virginian with the West Virginia Belle, a 1000-passenger boat.

Hard work creates success. Bob and Ruth Kehl received the National Small Business of the Year Award from President Reagan in 1986, beating out Microsoft for the honor.

It’s no secret the Kehls were opposed to the idea of gambling on the rivers when the idea was floated in the Iowa Legislature in the late 1980’s because of the threat to their riverboat business. They soon figured out gambling was likely coming. No one was in a better position to be part of this new industry.

The Kehl family has been involved in gaming since its inception in the state of Iowa. On March 8, 1990, the Dubuque Casino Belle, Inc. owned and operated by Robert and Ruth Kehl, was granted the first riverboat gaming operator’s license in Iowa and the license was issued on April 1, 1990. The Dubuque Casino Belle became the first American-flagged vessel to offer gambling cruises in the United States.

The Kehls received their second license in 1991 for the Mississippi Belle II, which started riverboat gaming operation on June 1 in Clinton, Iowa.

The Kehl’s had interest in and operated a total of four riverboat casinos in the Midwest; Dubuque Casino Belle, the Mississippi Belle II, Catfish Bend Casino, Fort Madison/Burlington, Iowa and Saint Joe Frontier Casino, St. Joe, Missouri.

Today, the Kehl’s have majority ownership in Elite Casino Resorts, LLC, which owns and operates Riverside Casino and Golf Resort^® in Washington County which opened in 2006, Grand Falls Casino Resort^® in Lyon County, Iowa, which opened in 2011, and Rhythm City Casino Resort^®, which reopened in 2016. Riverside received one of only four new Iowa gaming licenses awarded by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission out of ten applications in 2005. Grand Falls was the only license awarded by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission of four applications in 2010. In 2014, the Kehl’s became owners of the existing Rhythm City Casino in Davenport and opened a land-based casino resort to replace the existing riverboat in June 2016.

Bob and Ruth Kehl, operators of one of Iowa`s most successful riverboat casinos, stunned this Mississippi River town last month by abruptly announcing plans to sell their Casino Belle to a Missouri group, leaving 480 local employees high and dry as of March 31, 1993.

A mom-and-pop business partnership for 32 years, the Kehls had come a long way since Richardson`s Root Beer Stand, where they first met behind the counter, and from Roberts Smorgastable and its 'Forty Feet of Fine Food.'

They reluctantly got into riverboat gambling, but they became millionaires several times over. Now, the Kehls are bailing out. Bob`s health is poor and so is that of Iowa`s riverboat gambling industry, they said.

'It`s been a wonderful experience that I wouldn`t have wanted to miss, but you`ve got to know when to hold `em, and know when to fold `em,' Ruth said.

It says a great deal for the Kehls` reputations and for the tenuous state of Iowa`s gambling boat industry that few in Dubuque seem to have harsh words for their decision to sell the town`s No. 1 tourist attraction.

The local newspaper forgave them: 'Purely from a business standpoint, it`s hard to fault Kehl for agreeing to sell the boat,' said an editorial in Dubuque`s Telegraph-Herald newspaper.

The Chamber of Commerce gave its blessing: 'You could tell this was the hardest decision of their lives. I don`t blame them a bit. They`ve put Dubuque on the map and I think they should be commended,' said Marilee Harrman, whose Dubuque Convention and Visitors Bureau stands to lose its biggest draw because of the Kehls` bailout.

Even the Kehls` employees seemed to understand. 'People realize their point of view on this,' said Gary Smith, a Casino Belle blackjack dealer who, like all employees, will receive two months` severance pay.

The couple, who first rose from Dubuque`s working class by serving big meals at low prices, escaped condemnation because they are as much a part of this town as its religious institutions, its river bluffs and its blue-collar bars.

The Kehls` is the third Iowa gambling boat to weigh anchor and move to less competitive waters in only the second year of riverboat gambling in the state. The first two casino boats left in August. Both were owned by Steamboat Casino River Cruises in Bettendorf and operated in the Quad Cities area, where four boats were in operation, making competition fierce. They lost more than $7 million in the first year.

About 70 miles to the north, however, the Kehls` boat was highly successful. They paid off all debt-about $17 million-on the Casino Belle and their Portside building after the first year. And the city fully recouped its own $4 million investment in improvements on its riverfront in just six months.

The Casino Belle returned a net profit of more than $6 million its first year. The first half of its second year was less successful though still highly profitable, but prospects darkened this spring with the arrival of competition across the river in East Dubuque, where the sleek Silver Eagle was launched under Illinois` no-limit gaming laws. (Iowans are limited to $5 wagers and can lose no more than $200 on each excursion.)

Bob Kehl believes that Iowa cannot compete head-to-head with unrestricted boats across the river, or with casino gambling in Minnesota where American Indian tribes are luring gamblers with giveaways that include meals, hotels, wristwatches and even up to $100 in free gambling chips.

'We did very well in our first year because we had no competition,' he said. 'We thought we`d have at least three years to get established, but Illinois moved more quickly with their boats than we thought they would and when the Indian reservations in Minnesota started doing well with their casinos, they began going after our tour bus business.

'We used to get 80 buses on a Saturday; now we`re lucky to get 20. We`d be glad to compete head-to-head, but it is not a level playing field.'

Irons in the fire

Nevertheless, Dubuque officials are scrambling to line up a replacement boat. The town is advertising for investors on Wall Street and in Europe and Asia.

'A lot of Saudi Arabian investors work out of London, so we`re advertising there,' said Harrman. 'And in 1997, Hong Kong reverts back to being a territory of China. A lot of wealthy people there are looking to invest their money elsewhere. We figure those are the sort of people who like to gamble.'

Dubuquers are gambling that their legislature will see the error of its ways and lift gaming restrictions for the new owners, Harrman said. 'There are a lot of irons in the fire right now,' she noted.

The family plans to continue running its smaller casino boat in Clinton, Iowa, where there is less direct competition. The only other remaining Iowa riverboat is the President, which operates out of Davenport and earned $6.6 million in 1991, its first year. The new owners of the Casino Belle hope to operate in the St. Louis area, if Missouri passes riverboat gambling legislation.

'The river casino business has been good to us,' Bob Kehl said, 'but I predict if the state doesn`t do something, Iowa will be out of it in two years.'

`We`re both workaholics`

It has become an oft-told tale around here that Bob and Ruth Kehl were dragged kicking and screaming into riverboat gambling in the first place.

'We`re both workaholics and we each have our areas of expertise,' said Ruth, who is the inside boss to Bob`s outside boss. 'Our motto is that if two people are doing the same job, one of them is not needed.'

They met behind the counter at Richardson`s Root Beer Stand in Sigourney, Iowa, a few miles from Ruth`s family farm outside Brighton. Ruth, eight years Bob`s junior, was a high school carhop. Bob, the son of a pattern maker at the East Dubuque Foundry, had just finished a military service hitch and was running the joint for the summer.

Love came in short order. They were engaged a year later and bought their own restaurant in Dubuque right after the wedding. Tony`s Cafe had a dozen stools and a loyal clientele for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Trials by fire and water

In 1965, the Kehls expanded their thriving diner into what was for years a Dubuque institution-Roberts Smorgastable, which boasted 'Forty Feet of Fine Food.' Located downtown near the waterfront, the business endured trials by fire and water. A grease fire nearly burned it out in its first year. The Kehls remodeled and reopened, only to be hit the next spring with the worst river flood in Dubuque`s history.

Their 40 feet of fine food was about 10 feet underwater for a week, but when the Mississippi receded, the Kehls went back to work and reopened. 'The smorgasbord was slave labor,' Bob recalled. 'But it prepared us. Every morning we got up and we gambled that we`d make it another day.'

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The Kehls heaped helpings on their customers and their business endured and thrived, in part through their dogged labors and due also to throngs of tourists delivered to them by the Burlington Northern Railroad.

Bold move in hard times

Excursion trains from Chicago brought thousands of summer visitors into Galena and Dubuque in the late 1960s. A riverboat tour operator lured the tourists to the waterfront and the Kehls fed most of them.

When the railroad cut off its tour train and the riverboat left town in 1970, the Kehls responded by buying their own boat, the River Rogue. They pulled in passengers by advertising all over the Midwest and enticing tour bus companies to make stops in Dubuque.

In 1976, they built their first riverboat to their design, the Spirit of Dubuque. They launched it in the midst of a recession and with no little scoffing from those who thought it would never float in such hard times.

Their concept of prime-rib dinner cruises proved to be a big hit with tour groups, and in the 1980s the Kehls added two more cruise boats to their fleet. In 1984 their Roberts River Rides cruise business was named Iowa`s No. 1 tourist attraction for that year. In 1986, the Kehls were recipients of the National Small Business Persons of the Year Award from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

'They almost didn`t even get into nomination because Bob didn`t want to give out any of his profit figures,' said family friend R.D. McDonald, who nominated the Kehls. 'They won over a lot of major high-tech entrepreneurs from around the country. Here he was, a riverboat operator in Dubuque, and people kept asking, `Where is there water in Iowa?` '

It was the first time a husband and wife team had received the award, McDonald said, and they earned it in equal measure.

'They are both pure entrepreneurs,' he said. 'And they are also extremely hard workers,' he added. 'Even now, if the staff is having trouble clearing dishes, Bob gets right into the middle of it and Ruth is the same way.'

Reluctant players win

The Kehls spent 17 years building a highly successful, family-run and family-oriented cruise boat business, and when the idea of riverboat gambling arose, they fought it bitterly. They knew their tour boats would be sunk by the flashier gambling vessels.

'We fought it, but when we lost, we had to get in it,' said Bob Kehl. When the legislation passed, the Kehls tossed away their protest signs and signed an application for their own gambling boat. They not only joined the new tourism industry, but became leaders.

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The Kehls` first-year attendance projection of 277,000 passengers was exceeded in 4 1/2 months. The Casino Belle carried 649,555 passengers and collected $20,343,136 in gambling revenue in its first year. Three new hotels went up in Dubuque. Bob and Ruth announced plans a year ago to add another, even bigger, boat to their gambling fleet.

Then three things happened to make them reconsider, the couple said. Illinois launched its no-limit gambling boats faster than the Iowa limited-gambling boat owners had anticipated. A buyer showed up out of the blue and offered the Kehls $17 million for their Casino Belle-a $5 million appreciation in less than two years.

And Bob, who is 58, began to weaken physically because of his diabetic condition. A few weeks ago, his doctors ordered Kehl to reduce the stress in his life or risk ending it. That is a gamble the family is not about to take. Looking for less stress

'We`re sort of like farmers,' Ruth joked. 'We`ve worked our whole lives and by the time we sell out and make our money, we`re ready for the grave.'

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The bet in town is that the Kehls, who still operate excursion boats in Dubuque and LeClaire, Iowa, will be back into some sort of less stressful new enterprise within a few weeks-if not hours-of the Casino Belle`s departure from Dubuque.

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'I`m sure we`ll end up with another problem of some kind,' Ruth said.

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'Money never meant as much to us as the challenge of building something. We live the same now as we did 30 years ago.'

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There have been some upgrades. They drive his and her Cadillacs. And just a year ago, the couple finally bought a house in an affluent area long admired by Bob Kehl. It sits high on the bluff, overlooking the river.

'When we had the restaurant, I used to feed the people who lived up there and I`d think, `Boy, it would be nice to have a house in that area,`

' he said.

'Anybody can get up there, I believe that. But they can`t do it working just 40 hours a week.'