Could Iowa Be On The Radar For Online Casino Legislation This Year? – OnlinePokerReport.com

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 bills Senate sponsor, Sen. Cristina Castro, believes the efforts chances to succeed are better for 2023 than this year.

To the west, Nebraskas 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 cant be filed until the rules are approved by the attorney general and the governor.

Stuck in the middle, Iowa hasnt yet approached the US online casino gambling starting gate. Its legislative session only began on Monday, however, so theres still plenty of time.

Evan Johnson, a fiscal legislative analyst with the Legislative Services Agency (LSA), confirmed this for Online Poker Reportyesterday:

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.

Iowas 3 million residents helped set a record for Hawkeye online sportsbook gross gaming revenue (GGR) in November, generating $19.7 million, according to OPRs sister site Legal Sports Report.

So its no coincidence that operators who take bets at Iowa online sportsbooks, including DraftKings, PointsBet and Unibet, already secured market access for their hypothetical online casinos.

Even though operators are excited about their prospects in the state, theyll be competing with lawmakers split attention, OPR sister publication Play Iowa reported.

The Oct. 26 article which discusses PlayUp securing its own online casino market access Russ Mitchell quotedWes Ehrecke. Hes the president and CEO of the Iowa Gaming Association, which advocates for Iowas retail casinos. Those brick-and-mortar casinos may see reduced revenue if border states up the ante.

Ehrecke said legislators will likely be campaigning for reelection during summer and fall.

He told Play Iowa:

The likelihood of this advancing in 2022 is less than 50% at this time.

Ehrecke didnt return OPRs request for an update yesterday. However, even a small chance is better than most US states have this year. For a large part of the country, online casinos arent even up for discussion yet.

Officials with the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts and Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson also didnt return OPRs requests for comment yesterday.

Read more from the original source:

Could Iowa Be On The Radar For Online Casino Legislation This Year? - OnlinePokerReport.com