Iowa became the second American state to say no to online poker
sites. Less than 30 days ago the New Jersey online gambling
bill, which included online poker, was vetoed by the governor of
that state after passing through the state House and Senate. In
Iowa, the governor had confirmed that he would not veto the bill
if the legislators approved it, though he personally was not in
favor of the bill. Ironically the Iowa online poker bill did not
reach the governor. It was pulled out by the Senate after
passing through a bipartisan Senate sub-committee.
The Iowa state senators felt that the bill in its current form would lead to more problem gamblers in the state. Randy Feenstra, the Republican senator from Hull, told the Des Moines Register, “It’s a terrible, terrible bill. It’s the worst bill I’ve seen in this Legislature and I mean that. We’ve had all these social bills to address credit card abuses, violence, children’s neglect and abuse, and here’s the main issue why these things occur.”
The Democratic senators of Iowa had a slightly different perspective on the bill. Senator Bill Dotzler from Waterloo admitted to The Register that it was likely that more Iowans would dabble at online poker sites than they are doing now if the state sanctioned it. But a significant number are already visiting online poker sites. Hence he felt that it was time for the state of Iowa to regulate online poker sites and makes sure that Iowans are not getting ripped off by the unscrupulous ones. He added that Iowa needed to capture some of the revenues being generated at online poker sites. Senator Joe Bolkcom from Iowa City indicated a possible future course of action when he said that the bill may need some tweaks. Bolkcom added, “People needed more time to work through it.”
Other American states where online poker bills are in the pipeline are Florida, Nevada and California. In Florida the situation is that their bill has passed a Senate sub-committee and will now go to the full Senate. In Nevada the bill has just been introduced in the House.