Iowa Regulators Prepared to Oversee Online Poker

Iowa politicians may soon be taking a second look at regulating online poker for Hawkeye State residents and Iowa regulators want it to be known that they are up to the task, according to recent statements made by the head of the Iowa Racing & Gaming Commission in taping an upcoming episode of “Iowa Press,” to air December 28th.

As first reported by RadioIowa, Jeff Lamberti, chairman of the IRGC, confirmed that if Iowa legislators decide to move ahead with online poker, his department is ready.

Said Lamberti, referring to online poker, “That’s really where the next step in gaming is moving. We’ve seen some states approve it and are moving in that direction.”

Iowa Senate File 2257 passed on a 29-20 vote last March before being tabled by the Iowa’s more conservative, Republican-dominated State House, where it did not come up for a vote.

The prior bill calling for an Iowa intrastate online poker network would have operated in conjunction with the state’s approximately 20 brick-and-mortar casinos. A similar cooperative effort involving those casino operators seems to be behind the latest push.

According to Wes Ehrecke, the executive director of the Iowa Gaming Association, “We’d like to have [online poker] offered through the website portals of the casinos on a platform regulated by the Racing and Gaming Commission so you’re assure that when you play that we can keep the minors out.”

No timetable has been set for any reintroduction on an Iowa online poker measure, which would also face questionable prospects if it reached the desk of Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, who was “skeptical” about the early bill’s merits.

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