Iowa could become first in the Nation thanks to maverick GOPer

Doug Struyk is a Republican legislator from Council Bluffs. He serves in the House as Asst. Minority Leader. Struyk firmly believes that the way to help close the State's budget gap is through legalized on-line gambling. This would make Iowa the first state in the nation to take such a step.

From WQAD:

According to Council Bluffs Republican Rep. Doug Struyk, about 50,000 Iowans participate in illegal online gambling. Several legislators are considering a plan that would allow people to deposit money into a special account at one of Iowa's casinos. The account could then be used to play poker online.

He calls this unique system "account deposit wagering." Safety measures are built into his legislation which would help prevent fraud of players from off-shore poker interests.

Other Republicans supporting the legislation include: Reps Peter Cownie and Jeff Kaufmann. A handful of Democrats have joined in with the Republican legalization supporters. However, the main opposition is seemigly coming from a somewhat unusual alignment of social conservatives and liberal Democrats. For example, the Iowa Family Council, a religious conservative group, opposes the measure.

And according to PokerWorks:

Democratic Representative Mary Mascher told the Des Moines Register, “There are a lot of things in Iowa that are illegal, but it doesn’t mean we should legalize it.”

And another Democrat says he's not that anxious to see the vote passed. From PokerWorks:

The House Majority Leader, on the other hand, doubts that Iowa is ready to pioneer such a renaissance idea as legalizing online gambling in the US.

Kevin McCarthy, Democrat from Des Moines, Iowa, says, “I will tell you that in my judgment, that would be the largest expansion of gambling in the history of the United States of America. There never has been a state that has done it and knowing that gambling bills historically are bipartisan and it takes a lot of work to get to 51 votes on a fairly limited bill, moving to the potential of allowing every home in the state to be licensed as a casino to gamble at home seems to me to be a fairly heavy lift.”