The subject of online poker certainly isn’t new in Iowa. In fact, Iowa politicians have had the matter on their radar for a while, although no bills have managed to be approved by all of the proper channels. But this could definitely change in the near future thanks to Terry Rich, the Director of the Iowa Lottery. Rich recently said that the Lottery are keeping an eye on other states while doing their own “research and development.” He also mentioned that state laws allow the Lottery to offer online games, meaning they could run an internet poker operation if given the authority.
Assuming the Lottery do push to offer online poker to Iowa residents, state Senator Brian Schoenjahn would definitely be on board. He cited Iowa getting its fair share of online poker action by saying, “If people are going to do it anyway, maybe Iowa ought to take a piece of the pie and regulate it.”
According to a study by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, the Hawkeye State could certainly get a nice piece of this pie. The Gaming Commission reported that Iowa would generate between $3 and $13 million a year from internet poker.
So what are the chances of a poker bill passing any time soon? If Iowa Gaming Association CEO Wes Ehrecke is correct in his assumption, it probably won’t happen in 2014. However, Ehrecke does think that legislation could get passed in 2015 or later, when Iowa politicians have had more time to see how New Jersey and Nevada are doing with their internet poker operations.
In 2012, Iowa appeared to be one of the more progressive states when it came to online poker. A bill made it past the Senate, but was ultimately shot down in the House. A poker bill was also introduced in 2013, however, this one didn’t even make it out of the Senate. With New Jersey and Nevada already running serious online poker operations, perhaps this will convince both the Iowa House and Senate that the game could help them generate some major tax revenue.