Iowa casino bets big on sports betting; spouses with William Hill U.S.

One of 19 commercial casino licenses in the country to be revived from the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission this past spring, Prairie Meadows Casino and Hotel recently announced it has signed a partnership agreement with the U.S. arm of British bookmaking giant William Hill PLC (LON:WMH), to run the Altoona casino’s sports publication at case the Midwestern state legalizes wagering on sporting events.

According to the Des Moines Register newspaper…

The Polk County-owned casino isalso a portion of a larger remodel, building an 8,600 square foot sports publication close to the horse racing centre situated on the casino’s fourth floor. Folks will be able to view live betting odds and sporting events at the region ’s pub and video wall, equally to be included in the build.

In the forefront:

The Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racetrack casino will be the very first of the state’s 19 commercial casinos to have officially declare plans for a sports book and a sports gambling partnership since the May 14, 2018 overturning of their Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), the national law which effectively outlawed sports betting nationwide, excluding a couple of states for the last 25 decades.

Present sports betting picture:

President and Chief Executive Officer for Prairie Meadows, Gary Palmer, thinks that sports betting from the country is “an exciting proposal,” also that there’s “unbelievable interest,” in accordance with the news agency.

Any such legislation proposed in the Iowa House will be considered by the House State Government Committee, which Kaufmann seats. He’s also reportedly planning to maintain a subcommittee meeting on the legalization of sports betting by the end of this month.

“I’m not planning to state it’s unanimous, however I’t had a good deal of (legislators) come to me favorable and not nearly as numerous coming to me negative,” said Kaufmann.

While receptive to encouraging sports betting legislation, Democrats such as Sen. Liz Mathis, D-Hiawatha and Rep. Bruce Hunter, D-Des Moines, want to know where revenues would go and that safeguards are in place.

“Here’s how I sort of look at it: If it’s forthcoming and it’s and we have gaming at the state of Iowa, it’s better to have ahead of it and restrain a few of the terms of it and where the money will proceed and how the state of Iowa can benefit from it,” said Mathis.

Hunter said, “We’t must make sure that it’s regulated correctly, that we have sufficient defenses in there, that some 14-year-old kid can’t go in there and all of a sudden use dad’s charge card and rack up a thousand dollars’ value of betting on it,” based on the Des Moines Register.

Meanwhile, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds said in September, “there are a whole lot of queries to be answered,” regarding what sports betting could look like at Iowa.

“Everything we are doing is working with the Legislature, working together with the various agencies to find out what that would look like and how it could be implemented,” she allegedly said while campaigning in the fall for the governor’s race.

Stateside ops:

The stateside arm of the bookmaker founded in 1934 in the Uk is the largest sports book operator in the United States, with operations in Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Mississippi and New Jersey. It now operates 108 sports and race books in Nevada. 

Chief Executive Officer for William Hill U.S., Joe Asher said that they are “thrilled” together with the new partnership with Prairie Meadows and together with all the plans to build a sports book that will make it “the place” to wager on and watch matches, according to the Des Moines Register citing a news release.

Waiting match :

Palmer reportedly said that they expect for construction to be finished by the second week of February and also for the betting area to be available for business the moment a bill is passed by the Legislature and the principles are written by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission.

Prairie Meadow’s president and CEO added that if the legislature fails to pass the sports betting bill, the casino will utilize the remodeled area for horse racing simulcasting.