Should Iowa Allow Residents to Play Casino Game Variations Using TouchPlay?
As Iowa’s TouchPlay video gambling machines, on which players can play casino game reproductions, gain popularity, more and more legislators are issuing calls to ban the machines.
There is no doubt that the TouchPlay machines have been an overwhelming boon to retailers, convenience store owners, and the like. The Waterloo convenience store Panty Express, for example, takes in more than $16,800 a week from customers who come to play casino game reproductions.
Dillinger’s Bar &Grill in Mason City, which has several TouchPlay machines, has seen an increase in business since giving customers the chance to play casino game machines, according to manager Stan Schultz Jr.
People just sit and wait for a machine to open, and they’ll drink or eat while they do it, so I can’t complain. It’s just like any other game, pool or darts or whatever, he said.
People want to play. You’ve got to give them what they want, Schultz added.
Some lawmakers, however, disagree about equating personal freedom with the opportunity to play casino game machines.
Iowa House Speaker Christopher Rants, R-Sioux City, is one such lawmaker.
It basically comes down to a value decision. Is this what you think the face of Iowa should look like I mean, is this our future. We’re going to be a state that is reliant upon having slot machines in every store, Rants said.
Tags: casino game, game machines, slot machines