Iowa to Bring Legalized Sports Gambling to State
A Senate subcommittee in Iowa has now passed a bill that would bring legalized sports gambling in the state. While it may be a long shot for the Bill to get all the way through the legislature, it paves the way for further discussion on the issue. Lawmakers around the country are looking for ways to stave off their major budget deficits. The recession left the state’s budget in a horrible condition and now, it needs to find a way to recoup. Press surrounding states like Delaware, which approved legislation last year to allow sports betting in their state is just the type of news sure to grab the attention of legislators in cash strapped states. Enter Iowa. The State Senate gets the next pass at the bill to legalize sports gambling, and will begin to debate the issue. Legalized sports gambling is one of several different gambling options that have been proposed by lawmakers recently in hopes of cutting their budget deficit.
However, should the law pass in the Iowa state legislature, the federal government might step in to intervene. In 1992, Congress banned sports betting across the US. Four states that previously had laws at the time allowing sports betting were excluded from the federal law. These states were Delaware, Oregon, Montana, and Nevada. Now things are different though. Now legislators are looking to bring in as much revenue as they can to overcome the huge deficits they are under. Gambling is lucrative and has proven to have the power to bring in millions of dollars worldwide. The state of Delaware, however, has experiences some resistance from the NFL and other sports leagues and franchises when they enacted their sports betting laws. The NFL entered a legal battle that the sports leagues won, leaving Delaware to only be allowed to parlay bets, not single game wagers. Some lawmakers in Iowa believe that the state already has enough gambling options, citing the seventeen casinos that currently operate in the state. Like other states, legislators are torn on the issue and have yet to make a formal decision as to what will happen. Only time will tell how far the issues goes and if it will be allowed to bring in tax-revenue dollars.
