Iowa Representative Phil Thompson. Photo courtesy of Iowa Legislature website

The Iowa Senate recently passed a bill to legalize sports betting in the state.

Senate File 617 will allow for gambling on professional, collegiate, and international sports. The bill also establishes a framework to ensure Iowans can place bets on sports contests in a safe and legal way. The age requirement is at least 21-years-old to gamble on sports or fantasy sports contests. It passed the Senate 31-18 with District 24 Senator Jerry Behn of Boone voting against it.

The House is still working on their version of the bill, of which District 47 Representative Phil Thompson of Jefferson says part of the revenue from sports betting would go to the Rebuild Iowa’s Infrastructure Fund (RIIF), which he serves as the House committee vice-chair, while another percentage of the revenue goes to the non-profits of  counties that have casinos. Thompson talks about one amendment that looks to do away with exclusivity to sports betting revenues that casinos receive.

“There are counties that don’t have casinos that are trying to get more of they feel a fairer share of the revenue produced here. Obviously I’m not in favor that. We jumped through a lot of hoops to bring a casino to town and there are compromises there too for our community to have a casino in town. I’m working really hard to really go to bat for our community that really does have to take the wins with the losses on that.”

The Senate bill is in the House for consideration, while the House bill has yet to be passed over to the Senate.