Iowa Considering Legalising Online Poker

07 Feb 2012 - by Josef Rantamaki

Iowa is the latest in a line of states to consider legalising online poker. Senator Jeff Danielson will introduce a bill this month to legalise the game within the state, and the move comes after the US Department of Justice declared last December that the Wire Act of 1961 only applied to sports betting and not online gaming sites. “That took a significant hurdle away from the ability to play poker online,” said Danielson.

However, state representative Jeff Kaufmann, who believes it will tempt more and more people into gambling in the home, opposes the move. He commented, “I see so many people spend so much money they don’t have. I see so many families that are affected negatively by gambling.”

Recent studies show online poker in Iowa could rise between $13 and $60 million in a year, with the state receiving $3 to $13 million in tax revenue. Danielson says that is not the reason for introducing his bill and that he does not care about raising revenue, as the state’s budget is in the black and has a surplus.

This is disputed by Kaufmann who believes it bill is totally about raising revenue, especially for the operators of the online sites. “A lot of those owners are in Nevada, on the West Coast, and they’re not here in this state,” he said.

At present Nevada and the District of Columbia are the only two areas to have passed legislation allowing online poker, although the District of Columbia is in dispute with the city council over this. Several other states have considered legislation and others are thinking about it. These include California, Florida, Connecticut and New Jersey.