Iowa Gaming Laws Could be Revamped
State Not Satisfied With Practice of Sportsbooks Monitoring Themselves
While the Iowa sports betting ordeal has mostly been settled from a legal perspective, the fallout is still ongoing. The ordeal has prompted Iowa politicians and state employees to look at how the industry is monitored.
Iowa gaming received a bit of a black eye regarding how the entire situation with college athletes played out. There were questionable decisions by law enforcement that resulted in major backlash for the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.
At the heart of the matter was DCI’s use of GeoComply’s Kibana software to track the wagers of college athletes. In a court motion, attorneys for four of the 25 athletes charged, stated DCI’s use of Kibana was well beyond the intended scope.
“In 2022, GeoComply acted to share Kibana with the DCI to review criminal or disciplinary proceedings commenced against licensees or their employees in connection with the licensees conducting sports wagering or advance deposit wagering,” the motion read.
GeoComply cut off DCI access to Kibana on Jan. 26, 2024. The purported reason for terminating access was because “DCI may have exceeded the intended outline scope for its intended Kibana access-and-use privileges.”
An investigative report by the Des Moines Register, however, says GeoComply’s role may be more involved. It cited a DCI memo that suggests GeoComply helped coach Iowa officials on how to write state regulations that would allow the geolocation company to turn over information without a warrant and without informing the sports betting sites, such as FanDuel or DraftKings.
Sportsbooks Report on Themselves
From DCI’s perspective, sportsbooks aren’t doing enough to police themselves. They don’t believe the sportsbooks are doing enough to report suspicious activity, although it’s in their best interests.
Many of the past gambling scandals, such as the Tulane Point Shaving ordeal in 1985 or the Tim Donaghy fiasco, were uncovered with the help of sportsbooks. It’s bad for them if people don’t believe the games are legitimate. However, only 17 games were reported as “suspicious” by Iowa sportsbooks out of 48.2 million bets in 2021.
Traditional Iowa gaming (e.g. at a casino) is much easier to monitor for DCI. It has agents at all casinos and can quickly look at a casino’s books or cameras. If somebody is cheating in the casino, it’s much easier to detect.
It’s a bit more difficult when it involves online gambling and sports. If something illegal takes place, it could very well be occurring outside of the state. Investigators can look at the scores and odds and betting patterns but that’s about all they can do.
A plan to require sportsbooks to require additional methods of verifying a user’s ID when opening a new sportsbook account was shot down last month. The Administrative Rules Review Committee said a requirement for sportsbooks to obtain lists of team personnel was too broad. The matter will likely be taken up again in 2025.
In the meantime, Iowa gaming will continue to march forward. The state is benefitting from Caitlin Clark’s popularity and the team’s trip to the NCAA women’s championship game. However, the state will still be relying on the sportsbooks to report any suspicious activity.
For gambling betting news, odds analysis, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.
