IOWA STATUTES AND CODES
99B.9 - GAMBLING IN PUBLIC PLACES.
99B.9 GAMBLING IN PUBLIC PLACES.
1. Except as otherwise permitted by section 99B.3, 99B.5, 99B.6,
99B.7, 99B.7B, 99B.8, 99B.11, or 99B.12A, it is unlawful to permit
gambling on any premises owned, leased, rented, or otherwise occupied
by a person other than a government, governmental agency, or
governmental subdivision, unless all of the following are complied
with:
a. The person occupying the premises as an owner or tenant
has submitted an application for a license and an application fee of
one hundred dollars, and has been issued a license for those
premises, and prominently displays the license on the premises.
b. The holder of the license or any agent or employee of the
license holder does not participate in, sponsor, conduct, or promote,
or act as cashier or banker for any gambling activities.
c. Gambling other than social games is not engaged in on the
premises covered by the license or permit.
d. Concealed numbers or conversion charts are not used to
play any game, and a game is not adapted with any control device to
permit manipulation of the game by the operator in order to prevent a
player from winning or to predetermine who the winner will be, and
the object of the game is attainable and possible to perform under
the rules stated from the playing position of the player.
e. The game must be conducted in a fair and honest manner.
f. No person receives or has any fixed or contingent right to
receive directly or indirectly any amount wagered or bet or any
portion of amounts wagered or bet, except an amount which the person
wins as a participant while playing on the same basis as every other
participant.
g. No cover charge, participation charge or other charge is
imposed upon a person for the privilege of participating in or
observing gambling, and no rebate, discount, credit, or other method
is used to discriminate between the charge for the sale of goods or
services to participants in gambling and the charge for the sale of
goods or services to nonparticipants. Satisfaction of an obligation
into which a member of an organization enters to pay at regular
periodic intervals a sum fixed by that organization for the
maintenance of that organization is not a charge which is prohibited
by this paragraph.
h. No participant wins or loses more than a total of fifty
dollars or other consideration equivalent thereto in all games and
activities at any one time during any period of twenty-four
consecutive hours or over that entire period. For the purpose of
this paragraph, a person wins the total amount at stake in any game,
wager or bet, regardless of any amount that person may have
contributed to the amount at stake.
i. No participant is participating as an agent of another
person.
j. A representative of the department or a law enforcement
agency is immediately admitted, upon request, to the premises with or
without advance notice.
2. The holder of a license issued pursuant to this section shall
be strictly accountable for maintaining compliance with subsection 1,
and proof of any violation shall constitute grounds for revocation of
the license issued pursuant to this section, whether or not the
holder of the license had knowledge of the facts constituting the
violation.
3. A participant in a social game which is not in compliance with
this section shall be liable for a criminal penalty only if that
participant has knowledge of or reason to know the facts constituting
the violation.
4. The holder of a license issued pursuant to this section and
every agent of that licensee who is required by the licensee to
exercise control over the use of the premises who knowingly permits
acts or omissions which constitute a violation of subsection 1
commits a serious misdemeanor. A licensee has knowledge of acts or
omissions if any agent of the licensee has knowledge of those acts or
omissions.
5. This section shall not apply to premises or portions of
premises constituting the living quarters of the actual residence of
an individual if that individual is a participant in the activities
permitted by this section. Section History: Early Form
[C77, 79, 81, § 99B.9; 81 Acts, ch 44, § 13] Section History: Recent Form
89 Acts, ch 231, §22; 2003 Acts, ch 77, §1; 2004 Acts, ch 1086,
§23; 2007 Acts, ch 119, §4
Referred to in § 99B.2, 99B.12