Gaming machines to come under scrutiny

While the legislature has started the debate on the expansion of casino gambling — the chair of the House subcommittee on gambling says debate on a related issue will also soon get underway. State representative Scott Raecker, a republican from Urbandale, says they need to do something about game machines. He says a private entity has plans to put 15-thousand mechanical video slot machines in 75-hundred convenience stores in Iowa in the next year or so. He says the machines are not age-restricted, and he says that’s “a huge problem.” Raecker says the bill dealing with expanded casino gambling doesn’t address the game machines.He says they’re going to deal with it in a separate bill because it’s such a huge issue he says it would further complicate the casino gambling bill. Raecker says they’ll have committee meetings on the game machine issue next week.