Iowa’s Online Poker U-Turn

Iowa was almost guaranteed to be the first state to legalize online poker on a state level in the United States. After two weeks of discussions, now it seems that online poker is not going to be a legal form of gambling in the state of Iowa. “It’s abundantly clear we would not have anywhere near the votes for passage of what many considered would be the largest expansion of gambling in the history of the United States of America,” Iowa’s House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy told
the Des Moines Register newspaper. The legislative session will conclude in two weeks.

Unfortunately, Iowan legislators could not decide on how to move forward with online gambling. They’ve even decided to abandon plans to expand land-based gambling within the state. The debate over online poker has strained the views of politicians to the point that some of them are no longer interested in discussing any form of gambling expansion within the state of Iowa.

Three other states have been discussing legal online poker. New Jersey, California, and Florida has been talking about legalizing the activity, while Florida is the only other state to introduce a bill to legalize online poker. It is estimated that Iowa could have brought in at least $11 million in extra revenue each year from online poker. Iowa’s online poker direction leaves Iowans anxiously waiting for the federal government to license and regulate the online poker industry.