Iowa Lottery CEO: "Protect borders" because legal online gambling is coming

30 September, 2009

Has a state lottery authority inadvertently revealed the imminent passage of Barney Frank’s UIGEA-neutralizing legislation or is he just being paranoid? That’s the question Silver Bets contemplates today after Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich stated The Tall Corn State “should develop plans to protect its borders.”

The Des Moines Register newspaper reported Rich’s comments from a briefing he provided the Iowa Lottery Board on the subject of legislation HR 2267, a.k.a. “the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act,” a bill which would allow individual states to make law regarding the legality of online gambling within their territory in addition to “other restrictions on the activity if determined necessary.”

Stated Rich (try to contain your enthusiasm, you advocating the end to online gambling prohibition in the U.S.), "Based upon what we are seeing, I think that the federal government may pass something.”

Rich himself has been in close contact with Iowa governor Chet Culver and the Iowa state legislature’s Government Oversight Committee about online gambling, though Gov. Culver has revealed little about his loyalties on this issue, stating only that he plans to do “what is best for the state of Iowa.” Rich appears to be urging all parties to have a concrete plan in place once some form of HR 2267 becomes federal law.

Iowa does have plenty of bricks-and-mortar casino action, with 17 casinos and three racetracks in the state; playing Iowa horseraces online is currently in a bit of a legal gray area.