Iowa Republican Governor Kim Reynolds, running for re-election, and Democratic challenger Fred Hubbell both recently indicated they would not be in a hurry to sign sports betting legislation.
Sports wagering bills are expected to be introduced in the 2019 session. But Reynolds said she’d prefer to see a measure passed by both the state House and Senate in its final form before commenting. “What we are doing is working with the legislature, working with the different agencies to see what that would look like and how it would be implemented. There are a lot of questions to be answered,” Reynolds said.
Hubbell’s spokeswoman Remi Yamamoto said before making any commitments, Hubbell wants Iowa’s elected leaders to review how other states have implemented sports betting.
In fact, the Iowa Lottery, at the request of the legislature, has been reviewing how the state of Delaware has managed legalizing sports betting. Lottery spokesperson Mary Neubauer said, “We think Delaware did a really good job of designing its system to try to provide the convenience factor that all of the experts have said is so important in terms of trying to beat back the black market. You have to make it convenient for people to be able to place wagers or they’ll just stick will the illegal means.”
For example, Wes Ehrecke, president of the Iowa Gaming Association said his group will ask lawmakers to consider in the 2019 session a bill similar to House Study Bill 592, which would allow Iowa gamblers to establish sports wagering accounts at the state’s 19 casinos and place bets in person at a casino or online.
In Delaware, most wagers are placed on NFL and college football games. Delaware gamblers bet $2.8 million in the first game of the NFL season; $5.1 million was bet on all sports. In the second week, gamblers bet nearly $2.6 million on the NFL out of a total of $5.5 million.
Neubauer said in Delaware betters can wager in casinos or at retail locations, such as convenience stores. “In Delaware the way it works is that full blown sports betting, meaning sports betting with every possible variation that you could imagine, is done at casino locations. But then retail locations offer what are called parlay bets, or bets on more than one game at a time. So, obviously the offerings at retail are more limited.”
Neubauer pointed out there are different levels of sports bets in Delaware. “The numbers are showing that the bets that are being placed at retail locations are smaller. Those are just casual betters, maybe they just place a bet on the way home. The bets that are being placed at casino locations in Delaware are larger. So, the true sports betting enthusiasts seem to be going to the casinos.” Wagers placed at retail locations average almost $11, and casino wagers average nearly $51.
Neubauer said Scientific International, the system provider in Delaware, also is the Iowa Lottery’s vendor. “The expertise is there. It’s just a question of what do Iowa lawmakers want to do. And once they’ve made that decision, then we can provide whatever assistance they may need,” Neubauer says.
Currently Nevada, New Jersey, West Virginia, Mississippi and Delaware offer legal sports betting. Three additional other states have passed sports betting bills. Iowa is one of 14 states that have introduced but not passed sports wagering measures.
