Details of much-anticipated launch

Legal sportsbooks are now open for business in Iowa just 94 days after the legislation was signed into law by Governor Kim Reynolds.

The first of these retail sportsbooks opened for business on August 15 at noon. Online sports betting also launched on the same day. Bettors are required to visit a physical casino in order to sign up for a mobile account.

Iowa is now the 11th state in the United States offering legal sports betting.

This rule will be in place until 2021, at which point you will be able to create an account online. A pre-registration window was opened for mobile bettors to help ease the burden on day one of the sportsbooks going live.

Iowa is now the 11th state in the United States offering legal sports betting, and only the fifth in the country that allows mobile sports betting. Iowa also becomes the first state to successfully launch their mobile sportsbooks on the same day as launching the retail sportsbooks.

Open for business

Eight casinos have been offering retail sports betting since launch day. These are the Ameristar, Catfish Bend, Isle Bettendorf, Isle Waterloo, Lakeside, Prairie Meadows, Rhythm City and Riverside. 

Those with online offerings already open are Isle Bettendorf, Isle Waterloo, Lakeside and Prairie Meadows. All of these online offerings are working alongside William Hill. The other casinos are partnering up with Kambi, PointsBet and BetWorks. The rest of the online platforms will be open for business in time for the start of the lucrative NFL season. 

Iowa represents the first step into the US sports betting market for BetWorks. They are currently working alongside theScore to bring a new offering to the thriving New Jersey market. It is only a matter of time before the likes of DraftKings and FanDuel enter the Iowa market. 

Sports betting in Iowa

Iowa is different to most states as the individual counties decide which types of gambling are permitted. This is versus the norm where decisions are made on a statewide level. 

There are also no bets allowable in-game on individual players from state colleges or universities. Betting on college sports will not be open until May 2020 either.

Sportsbooks benefit from an extremely competitive tax rate of just 6.75%, which is currently one of the lowest in the country. There is a license application fee of $45,000 in place, and there will be an annual renewal fee for the licenses of $10,000.