Prairie Flower Casino

The Prairie Flower Casino, located on the west side of the Missouri River in Carter Lake, Iowa, is owned and operated by the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska. Since opening in 2018, the casino has been undergoing improvements. Between 2023 and 2025, it plans to expand to six times its current size. This expansion will provide guests with a larger gaming floor, multiple dining options, and a retail area. It will also add two-hundred new jobs for the local economy.

Due to the construction and the casino’s location, the site needed a solution to properly manage stormwater runoff onsite. The increase in impervious surfaces required above ground or underground detention to meet local stormwater management requirements. The casino is also in a low-lying area that often experienced standing water during or immediately after rainfall events.

This site presented challenges due to its relatively unstable soils and fluctuating groundwater levels influenced by rainfall and the Missouri River. StormTrap was chosen for its capacity to store more water in a compact space, its ability to adjust storage height in increments as small as one inch, and its effectiveness in managing varying groundwater levels.

A large detention system was designed for the project. The basin was built using four-hundred-and-twenty-two 4’-8” SingleTrap concrete modular pieces. The system, installed in a week, stores over 290,000 cubic feet of water.

Although the project is not yet finished, it is estimated to be completed in the late 2024 into early 2025. The added space will serve the Ponca Tribe and the casino patrons for years to come.