Iowa is Going to Legalize Sports Gambling

28.03.2019, 12:11

It is expected that sports gambling will be legalized in Iowa in the near future. The main advocate for the gambling bill, Bobby Kaufmann, informed that the bill would soon go to the vote by the Iowa House of Representatives. The House of Representatives Committee has already reviewed and approved the bill with minor amendments.

With strong support from the two parties, the law passed by the vote of 16-7 a week ago. Kaufmann hopes, that the law will be put to the vote in mid-April. One of the most prominent issues of the bill is the ban on betting on college sports teams, which many Americans support.

According to the experience of other states, it can be assumed that wagers will not be allowed. The government will receive taxes of 6.75%. Of these funds, 25% will be transferred towards the treatment programs of the Iowa Department of Public Health.

In addition, it is assumed that the casinos will be allowed to offer mobile gambling with the condition that the customers would need to register in the casino personally, if the accounts were to be created before January 1, 2021. Such conditions were offered for 22 casinos in Iowa so that a “level playing field” would be created.

After the new amendments, it is expected that not all representatives will support the bill.

Mary Wolf, one of the representatives, noted that 6.75% is too high of a tax rate. According to them, this tax rate is acceptable only for Nevada, where the gaming industry is much more developed, while Iowa charges casinos the rye of 22%. She made a proposal to charge a 3% “mobile fee” for all wagers placed online so that the benefit would remain for grants for community non-profit organizations.

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