Iowa May Pioneer US Online Poker Laws
Written by Roger S | Monday, March 1st, 2010
Lawmakers in Iowa thrashed out the issue of legalized online poker and gambling, with suggestions being made that the state could become the first in the country to introduce this concept. Rep. Doug Struyk said that if Iowa wants to take the lead in the introduction of online poker, the time was ripe to make these changes.
Struyk, who supports the idea of online gambling – although he uses the term ‘account deposit wagering’ – said that over 50,000 Iowans regularly play online poker and casino games.
Struyk referred to problems facing these players, including his opinion that certain offshore online poker sites use planted players to bluff and win money off unsusceptible poker fans. Let me be the first to give that a triple, WTF. Anyway, Struyk noted that “people in our state lose thousands of dollars on this.”
Struyk gave the proposal, which would allow Iowans to open an online account at state casinos and fund it with cash, a one in four chance of passing in 2010. The success of the proposal, according to Struyk, lay in the ability of lawmakers to educate the public about the concept of online poker and gambling, without turning it into an emotional circus.
The House Majority Leader, however, was doubtful that the state would be ready to pioneer the idea of online gambling in the United States.
“I will tell you that in my judgment, that would be the largest expansion of gambling in the history of the United States of America,” said Kevin McCarthy, (D-Des Moines). “There never has been a state that has done it and knowing that gambling bills historically are bipartisan and it takes a lot of work to get to 51 votes on a fairly limited bill, moving to the potential of allowing every home in the state to be licensed as a casino to gamble at home seems to me to be a fairly heavy lift.”
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· Written by Roger S · Filed Under Poker Gossip · 3 Comments
March 1st, 2010 at 8:51 am
HMMM ,Lets ask a question .Why is it the states always want the state casino’s involed ?
No state casino’s!!!!
How about someone come up w/american poker site. Has anyone heard of someone working on one?
March 1st, 2010 at 12:55 pm
poker.wsop.com . This will be the biggest to open up if poker is legalized and regulated to operate in the US. They don’t really need to work on one as they will use skins from all the software networks out there and won’t have to compete against the already huge sites. Then maybe down the road they would build their own platforms if they grew large enough. But we’re talking overall many, many years from now for both parts.
March 2nd, 2010 at 10:49 am
to snyder321, could be they want the money….