Shutterstock/Abramova Kseniya Iowa galloped across the finish line in August 2019 as one of the first states to launch legal online sportsbooks. Since then, the Hawkeye State slowed to a trot on any further gambling expansion.
However, Iowa may emerge in 2022 as a dark horse candidate to legalize online gambling, or at least advance the conversation about it. One factor that could drive that is cross-border competition for gambling dollars from its neighbors Illinois and Nebraska .
To the east, Illinois legislators walked got their own proposed online casino legislation as far as a committee, but the bill failed to advance further in 2021. This year may bring different news, as the Illinois General Assembly is again expected to take up bill discussions . However, at the moment, committees are meeting remotely and House and Senate sessions are completely stalled due to coronavirus concerns . The bill’s Senate sponsor, Sen. Cristina Castro, believes the effort’s chances to succeed are better for 2023 than this year. New competition from Nebraska retail gambling
To the west, Nebraska’s racetracks are about to add retail casino gambling. On Dec. 17, the Nebraska State Racing and Gaming Commission approved rules that will govern casino operations.
Nebraska Public Media reports : “Commission Chairman Dennis Lee indicated applications from existing racetracks would probably be considered first, but they can’t be filed until the rules are approved by the attorney general and the governor.” Stuck in the middle, Iowa hasn’t yet approached the US online casino gambling starting gate. Its legislative session only began on Monday, however, so there’s still plenty of time.
Evan Johnson , a fiscal legislative analyst with the Legislative Services Agency (LSA), confirmed this for Online Poker Report yesterday: “As of right now, I am not aware of any legislation introduced on that topic. This is only the start of Session, so that could change by the day.” LSA is a nonpartisan legislative agency serving the Iowa Legislature. Iowa seems to be readying to discuss online casinos
Iowa’s 3 million residents helped set a record for Hawkeye online sportsbook gross gaming revenue (GGR) in […]
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