IowaPolitics.com: $80 million gaming bill to include online poker, sports betting

A gambling bill that Iowa House leaders are pushing quickly to the floor could generate roughly $80 million in revenue for the state, a key legislator said Thursday.

About $70 million of that will likely be contained in an amendment allowing Iowans to play in live poker tournaments online, something state Rep. Brian Quirk said an estimated 80,000 in the state already do illegally.

Quirk, D-New Hampton, said he wants to create a safe, regulated environment for those players, many of which are currently using offshore gambling Web sites that offer little protection to users.

“They’re giving out their credit card number to do it and it’s just kind of (fraught) with fraud and a lot of risk,” Quirk said.

Fellow subcommittee member Rep. Doug Struyk, R-Council Bluffs, agreed. “Right now what’s going on is illegal, offshore and very risky for Iowans,” Struyk said. “This would bring it under control of the Racing and Gaming Commission and only be legal intrastate.” <、p>

The idea is for players to go to one of the state’s 17 casinos and deposit money – cash only – into an account. The casino would then give the player an online account and password through which secure, live gaming against other Iowans would take place.

Quirk said there has been some pushback from colleagues on that proposal, but he stressed that moving forward on that idea could put Iowa in an enviable position should the federal government allow interstate online gaming, as is currently being discussed.

“The reason why I’m interested in it is if Iowa can be the first to do this that we could establish a nexus in Iowa,” Quirk said. “My thought is it would generate a substantial amount of tax revenues for the state.”

Quirk said Iowa could become a model for other states considering such online gaming, and software companies could end up basing themselves in the state as a result.

“If that does happen Iowa will be poised to be in the driver’s seat on this stuff and grow a pretty substantial industry in the state,” Quirk said.

Struyk and Quirk have asked stakeholders to provide them with “numeric feedback” on the ramifications of the proposal as well as on the bill itself by early next week.

“If we don’t have a rough idea of what kind of revenue they’re going to bring it makes it very difficult for us to negotiate with our colleagues as far as why we want to go down this path,” Struyk said.

The bill as it stands also contains several items that Quirk said are non-controversial and are estimated to generate $5 million to $10 million for the state. Those items include allowing casinos to take a portion of wagering from telecast horse and dog races, to allow casinos to avoid county referendums and language from a sports betting bill that has already cleared the Senate.

Also in the bill is a section allowing casinos to buy for $500 an off-floor gaming license to hold poker tournaments in adjacent ballrooms or convention areas. An amendment could allow casinos to place some electronic games around the outside of those tournaments, Quirk said.

Quirk said he hopes to have the bill ironed out by the end of next week and ready for a vote the following week. He gave the bill a 70 to 80 percent chance of passing, while a separate bill that would let casinos pay the state to stop holding greyhound races is not nearly as likely to receive approval.

“That’s not seen as a win-win by any means for many folks,” Quirk said. “It is for Harrah’s but not for the dog breeders. We’ll continue to work on that issue; however, I give it a 40-60 chance of going anywhere this year. It’s not likely; I’ll just say that.”