Shortly after one o’clock today, the Iowa House began debating the future of the Iowa Lottery’s TouchPlay machines. the Iowa Senate voted last night to pull the plug on the machines in 45 days.
Behind-the-scenes discussions earlier in the day indicate some House lawmakers plan to propose a ban, but one that’d give retailers who’ve installed the machines ’til September to pull them — with the idea they might recoupe more of their investment.
Representative Danny Carroll, a Republican from Grinnell, will be arguing that the machines should be banned. “It’s hard to know exactly how this debate will unfold this afternoon,” Carroll says.
Representative Jeff Elgin, a Republican from Cedar Rapids, says today’s discussion has been “long-anticipated.” “Last fall I think all of us started getting calls from constituents wondering why there were slot machines in their local convenience stores,” Elgin says. “Many of us had no idea what they were talking about.”