Republicans in the Iowa Senate have rejected a last-ditch attempt to keep the Iowa Lottery’s TouchPlay machines operating a few more months.
In March, the legislature voted to ban the machines, and that ban took effect overnight. But back in March, the House also passed another bill which would have kept the machines operating ’til September 1st. Senate Republicans were never willing — as a group — to let the issue resurface.
Craig Cohoon is vice president of sales for Moss Distributing, a Des Moines company that invested millions in the TouchPlay machines. He was the statehouse all day Wednesday seeking a last-minute reprieve that never came. Cohoon says he just can’t understand why lawmakers wouldn’t want to help the small businesses that invested in the TouchPlay machines. “We did the right thing. We did what we were asked to do. We didn’t do anything wrong,” Cohoon says. “We put up all the money. We did all the work. The state made their money and sure enough, we’re sitting here holding the bag on a lot of debt.”
Cohoon said in March that he would likely lose his job because the legislature banned the TouchPlay machines.