Profits for Iowa casinos topped the one-billion dollar mark last year. Jack Ketterer, administrator of the Racing and Gaming Commission, says more than half the people gambling here are from outside Iowa’s borders, but also told the commission at Thursday’s meeting that almost all the money stays here.
With 16 casinos now operating in Iowa, gambling foes have expressed uneasiness at its expansion, but Commission Vice-Chair Gerald Baird says they give 74-million dollars to charity, pay 331-million a year in taxes and are worth more than 750-million to the state if you count jobs and other economic impacts.