Iowa Lawmakers Approve Sports Betting, Only Governor’s Signature Left

Looks like the state of Iowa has gotten even closer to the legalization of sports betting…

…since the Iowa House of Representatives has approved an amended version of a bill and the only thing that is left is to get approval from Governor, Kim Reynolds.

Details on the Bill

The bill, named Senate File 617, ed the Senate’s approval a few days ago and now it also ed the House’s approval with 67 votes in favor, and 31 against it.

Now, the bill is ed on to Governor, Reynolds, and everyone is hoping that she will sign it off before the end of the current legislative session which takes place on May 3.

Through the SF617 bill, lawmakers want to regulate in-person, online and mobile sports betting in Iowa. The House already approved the bill…

…but it was returned to them because the state Senate made various changes, even though 31-18 were in favor of the bill.

Although the Iowa House rejected all of those changes coming from the Senate, they managed to compromise on certain points, including the license fee that each operator would have to pay if the bill turns into law.

The License Fee

The House pushed to set up a fee of $75,000 that each licensee should pay to the state…

…but it was too high in the Senate’s opinion, so they proposed a $15,000 fee.

In the end, both Senate the and House managed to find a mutual solution and agreed that licenses should cost $45,000.

Also, if this bill becomes law, a ban on daily fantasy sports contests based on collegiate players will still be active until May 2020.

On the other hand, all other parts of the bill remained unchanged, including an annual tax rate of 6.75% on each operator’s gross revenue from sports betting.

Also, each operator would be able to partner up with a maximum of two entities if they want to establish more sites for sports betting…

…but only if the third party entity doesn’t already have a license to operate in Iowa.

More Plans for Sports Betting in Iowa

The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission will, of course, be in charge of the sports betting market, while wagering would be permitted on professional and collegiate sports.

But, it won’t be permitted to bet on player performance for athletes representing a college team that is based in the state of Iowa.

SF 617 is actually a more developed version of the Senate Study Bill 1168, which was filed back in February of this year.

Its main focus was the legalization of betting on professional and collegiate sporting events at Iowa’s 19 casinos, racetracks and other gambling facilities.

Source:

“Iowa sports betting bill heads to Governor”, igamingbusiness.com, April 23, 2019.