Iowa became the eighth state in which BetMGM began to offer legal online sports wagering in May 2019. That development led to operators opening hotels and retail spaces adjacent to the casinos. By 2004, riverboats were allowed to operate on moored barges rather than in open water. In April 1991 Dubuque’s Casino Belle became the first riverboat casino in America and there were eventually as many as 69 floating casinos on rivers feeding the Atlantic Ocean.
Racetracks began to offer slots in 1994, and the casino operations started moving from water to land. Riverboat gambling was approved by lawmakers in 1989.
Pari-mutuel dog track and horse racing were authorized in 1983, and the state lottery was created two years later. Iowa Racing and Gaming Administrator Brian Ohorilko told local media outlets that plans were approved Thursday for Marquette’s Casino Queen to become a land-based operation. From a peak of over a dozen riverboat casinos in Iowa, one of the last three floating gambling houses will be moving to land soon, leaving only two riverboat casinos in the state.
