Iowa Hopes to Toughen Stance on Illegal Gambling

The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission (IRGC) may soon wield additional powers, allowing it to address sectors of the gambling industry that the regulator deems illegal.

IRGC May Soon Get the Power It Needs to Go After Illegal Gambling 

A new proposal will be part of the new legislative session, which is due to get underway next week, on January 12, and which aims to allow the regulator to crack down on platforms that it deems illegal. 

The new bill will hopefully make this a reality, giving the state regulator the power it needs to go after identified bad actors who the watchdog argues are preying on unwitting residents. 

The regulator is hamstrung by the lack of a legal basis on which it could act to go after illegal gambling actors, but this may soon change as lawmakers are preparing to make it a reality. 

According to Tina Eick, the IRGC’s administrator, there are two main kinds of bad actors that the watchdog now wishes to go after – those include companies that emulate legitimate businesses, and go so far as to steal official branding by building websites and trying to convince players that they are the real thing.

Those fake websites lead to financial harm and the loss of personal and financial data, Eick notes, and the IRGC is particularly keen to go after them. Impersonators are a serious issue state-wide, Eick argues, adding that the IRGC should be given a mandate to tackle this problem. 

Then, there are the offshore gambling platforms, or companies that are not licensed in Iowa specifically. They do not follow the rules prescribed by the watchdog, Eick says, and have a poor track record of maintaining player safety. 

Bad Actors Are a Threat – Not Always Willing to Comply

Presently, the IRGC may only oversee companies that hold a license in Iowa, and cannot take any proportionate action against the identified bad actors. 

“We have a strong regulatory system that ensures the games are fair. We hold those operators accountable: their information and their funds are secure, and then they have responsible gaming, self-exclusion programs in place, and then we tax them. They pay their fair share of taxes to Iowa,” she adds, describing the dangers of associating with such websites.  

Yet, issuing cease-and-desist letters is no guarantee that bad actors will comply. Offshore websites are often legitimate operators who abuse a loophole, but impersonators are usually criminally-minded and are less likely to respond to legal warnings.