Lawmakers in Iowa Have Unique Idea to Skirt Internet Gambling Laws
Many states have been discussing making online gambling, especially online poker, legal in their states. However, they keep running into federal laws that make gambling over the Internet illegal. However, the state of Iowa has come up with an idea that may make it legal to gambling online in the state. Iowa is also looking into making sports gambling legal is the state.
The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006 has really hindered plans of lawmakers in the United States that want to not only legalize, but regulate the Internet gambling industry in their state. They may want to take a close look at the Iowa plan that would go around the federal laws that are currently on the books.
U.S. Representative is one of group of 7 people that is trying to expand gambling in the state of Iowa. He knows, and has stated as such, that gambling is going to stay in Iowa and he is under the belief that the state should be the leader when it comes to the online gambling industry in the United States.
When he recently talked about the proposal that may come out of the 7-member group that will be discussed next week in a House State Government Committee hearing Quirk stated, “Look, either we’re a gambling state, or we’re not, and with seventeen casinos I’d say we’re a gambling state.”
One of the ideas that the group, and other, is how to work their way around the laws of the UIGEA, which makes it an illegal act for financial institutions from taking part in any Internet gambling transactions. It looks as if the group Quirk is working with and other lawmakers may have now come up with a plan that might just work.
Gamblers would be able to go into casinos in the state where they reside to open up an account and then deposit money into. They would then be allowed to bet over the Internet with the money that is in the casino account. This would skirt the law, as obviously casinos are not financial institutions.
The one main catch with this plan is how the person would get paid and how would they be able to withdraw their funds. Under the current plan, which is still being worked on, a player would go back to the casino to deposit more funds into their account or collect what they have won being paid from their accounts.
Making sports betting legal in the state of Iowa may be harder within the government of the state. There are a lot of lawmakers that are very opposed to any type of sports gambling being legal. Mary Mascher, who is the Chair of the Government Committee, has already made the threat to remove any sports wagering language in any gambling bill that is presented to the committee.
