Iowa’s Biggest iGaming Advocate Doesn’t Plan To File Bill In 2025

The lawmaker behind Iowa’s online casino bills over the past two years says he likely won’t introduce more iGaming legislation — but he’ll support anyone who does.

Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, whose most recent online casino bill, HSB 227, died in committee when Iowa’s last legislative session ended in April, told Casino Reports he doesn’t think he’s the right lawmaker to file the next round of iGaming legislation.

“Since I am no longer State Government [Committee] chair, it really isn’t my role to introduce gaming study bills anymore,” Kaufmann told Casino Reports. “I could individually sponsor — and would — but it wouldn’t have the potency of a study bill.”

In Iowa, committee chairs, the governor, or state agencies can propose what’s called a study bill. These bills head straight to committee before ever seeing action on the House or Senate floor. In essence, they skip a step in the legislative process. Regular bills may never reach a committee after a lawmaker files them.

Kaufmann is, however, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee. Potential online casino bills could take a route through that committee in the future.

“I can tell you if iGaming makes it to Ways and Means,” Kaufmann told Casino Reports, “I will be supportive.”

Retail casinos taking priority

For now, online casinos are on the backburner in Iowa’s gambling landscape.

A two-year moratorium on new casinos in Iowa ended on July 1. Since then, all eyes have been on Cedar Rapids, the state’s second-biggest city. The Linn County Gaming Association has partnered with Peninsula Pacific Entertainment (P2E) to build a $250 million casino near downtown — Cedar Crossing Casino.

That same pairing tried to pitch a Cedar Rapids casino to the Iowa Racing & Gaming Commission in 2022, but the moratorium halted those plans.

Now, backers are racing to get Cedar Crossing Casino approved by the IRGC before lawmakers enact another moratorium on new casinos.

And a prominent lawmaker voicing intentions to introduce that moratorium?

Kaufmann.

“I do not have an issue with a casino in Linn County,” Kaufmann told Casino Reports. “I have issues with any new casino cannibalizing the industry.”

The next Iowa legislative session begins Jan. 13. The IRGC is set to vote on a potential Cedar Rapids casino on Feb. 6. The pressing question: If Kaufmann (and other lawmakers) file another moratorium, could they get it passed before Feb. 6?

Kaufmann represents Wilton, a town near Davenport and Riverside, two cities with casinos that employ Wilton residents.

While Iowa momentum cools, Louisiana gains steam

The Louisiana Senate’s Judiciary B and Revenue and Fiscal Affairs committees will meet jointly to study the potential effects of online casinos in Louisiana and report their findings to the full Senate no later than March 1.

This is happening thanks to SR149, which passed in the final week of the previous legislative session in June. Among the reasons to conduct the study, the legislation cited:

• The 2022 American Gaming Association report that said Americans bet $500 million annually on unregulated operators, costing states $13 billion in tax revenue
• Worries regarding responsible gambling practices of these illegal and unregulated operators
• The fact that seven other states have legalized online casinos with revenue tax rates ranging from 15-57%

SR149 says the first joint meeting is to take place no later than Oct. 1.