Iowa: City of Dubuque in favor of fantasy gaming regulation

City of Dubuque officials say it could stand to gain from this, while Q Casino President Jesus Aviles says it would hurt existing casinos, including the Q.

Assistant City Manager Teri Goodmann says regulation would bring in more revenue for the state and city."The benefit for us as a city but also as a state is that some of these revenues are shared with the licensed gaming institutions around the state and then that of course comes back and benefits citizens," she said.

She also believes it's fair to regulate fantasy gaming when other gaming, like casino gambling, is regulated in Iowa. She said, "we don’t think we should...let one gaming entity not be regulated while the rest are, there’s just no fairness there."

Aviles says regulating fantasy gaming would only create more competition for existing casinos, and he doesn't believe it would add anything to communities around Iowa.

"They'll play online, there will be no infrastructure addition to the state, they won't hire many people because it's done via the internet, the proceeds will go to these companies," he said. And he doesn't believe fantasy gaming will be regulated as well as other gaming. "We go through a rigorous investigation by the commission, by the IRS to get our license to operate. We don’t know who’s behind computer number one or computer number two," he said.
Zach Dillon, a local fantasy gamer, says he's played fantasy football for years now. He says he can understand why the state might want to regulate this activity.

"If that's the route they want to go and they're looking to make money off of it then they're hitting the right thing," Dillon said.

Fantasy gaming regulation is listed in the city's 2018 Legislative Priorities List.They'll present all of their priorities to Dubuque's state legislatures and will discuss them on December 20.