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Iowa Gambling Expansion Unlikely

IOWA – As reported by the Des Moines Register: "State gambling regulators appear unlikely Thursday to immediately lift a moratorium on issuing new riverboat casino licenses, despite pleas from Iowa communities hoping to reap millions of dollars in gambling profits.

"A majority of the five-member Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission said in interviews during the past week they remain undecided about expanding Iowa's gambling industry and want more direction from the Iowa Legislature. Gambling regulators said they don't expect to make a decision Thursday, and action on the issue could be months away.

"Chairman Michael Mahaffey of Montezuma said he remains steadfast in his stance that compelling proof must be presented to persuade him to lift the moratorium. He said he has received many calls and letters from people on both sides of the issue. State regulators adopted the moratorium in 1998 through the administrative rule-making process.

"…One of Mahaffey's concerns is that legislators have refused to provide full funding of treatment programs for gambling addicts.

"…Vice Chairwoman Diane Hamilton of Storm Lake said she has mixed feelings about lifting the moratorium. She said additional issues must be settled if the moratorium is abolished. Those issues include whether to permit an unlimited number of new casinos, whether to allow racetracks to offer casino table games, such as blackjack, and whether to permit communities without lakes or major rivers to simply build land-based casinos.

"…Iowa now has 16 casinos where gamblers leave behind more than $1 billion annually. There are 10 riverboat casinos, three racetracks with slot machines and three American Indian casinos. The moratorium on issuing new riverboat licenses was imposed five years ago because of concerns about a saturation of gambling statewide…"

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