Iowa may have the distinction of having more forms of legalized gambling than any other state. The pastoral agricultural land of the Music Man has more than pool halls to corrupt its youth. It has a lottery with instant tickets and massive lotto prizes via Lotto America; it has dog racing and horse racing – thoroughbred, harness, and quarter horse racing. It has bingo games and pull-tab tickets for charities, and it has casinos – on land, on rivers, on lakes, and on Native American lands. Although many of these games were in place by the end of the 1980s, Iowa led the nation in establishing riverboat gaming with legislation that was passed on 20 April 1989.
Even though the Iowa “experiment” led to a massive expansion of gambling throughout the Midwest, in a sense it was supposed to represent a small incremental change in gambling offerings – not a major change in the landscape. The proponents of casinos for Iowa were responding to a general downturn in the agribusiness economy of the state. They were quick to say they did not want Iowa to “be like Las Vegas”. Indeed, during the legislative campaign for casinos, the words casino and gambling were not used. The casino gambling was supposedly just a small adjunct to riverboat cruises designed to recreate Huckleberry Finn excursions down the mighty Mississippi. Only 30 percent of the boat areas could be devoted to casino activities. Ostensibly, the operators would offer many activities on the boats in order to satisfy the recreational needs of the entire family. Originally the boats had to have actual cruises, betting was limited to five dollars a play, and no player could lose more than $200 on a cruise. These limits have been eliminated, and now boats no longer cruise. Instead, they remain docked while players gamble.
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