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The Des Moines Register reports that one of the most progressive states in the Union, Iowa, may now be looking to legalize online sports betting, following a path the state of New Jersey is currently taking.
Iowans might head to Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino to bet on football and basketball games if a federal ban on sports wagering is lifted, the track's chief executive told the Register on Wednesday. Prairie Meadows President Gary Palmer described the possibility of opening a sports betting operation at the Altoona gambling complex as "a very exciting proposition."
Jack Ketterer, administrator of the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, said Wednesday that the Iowa Legislature would need to approve state legislation to allow sports gambling if the federal ban is lifted.
That state's governor has not offered a stance on the issue.
The federal government now prohibits sports betting in all but four states - Delaware, Nevada, Montana and Oregon - which were grandfathered in under a 1992 federal ban on sports gambling.
The powerful Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association is currently working with the state of New Jersey in taking legal action as a means of overturning the decades old ban. Joe Brennan Jr., the association's president, said legalizing sports betting would take an underground industry estimated at $360 billion annually and "bring it out into the light of day."
State Sen. Raymond Lesniak, a Democrat, said the federal law is unconstitutional because it treats the four states differently from the other states.
Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
