Iowa Doesn’t Want You to Use Proxy Betting, or Face Consequences

Iowa may soon become one of the states to take a tougher line on proxy betting, a practice that may seem marginal, but has been important enough for a pair of bills to actually raise the issue with the state legislature.

Iowa Wants to Push Harder Against Proxy Betting

Senate Study Bill 1097 and House Study Bill 21 want to address proxy betting as well as the sharing of betting accounts. While proxy betting is already illegal in Iowa, the bills seek to further criminalize the activity and raise the stakes for people engaging in such behavior.

Ideally, the tougher penalties seek to discourage people from participating in this activity in the first place. The Iowa Department of Public Safety has been focusing on the issue as it worries that people who are not yet of the legal gambling age may place bets through accounts registered in the names of persons who qualify for gambling – the age is 21 in the state.

Iowa believes that this is no different than providing alcohol to minors, for example, and should come with harsher penalties. The bills specifically talk about including “account sharing” and “ proxy betting”  in the Iowa Code, under illegal gambling.

As outlined by the bills, people who engage in illegal gambling, which could soon include “account sharing”  and “proxy betting” would face the consequences established by the law, which classify this behavior as a class D felony for first-time offenders. However, the crime could fetch up to five years in prison and a fine of a minimum of $1,025.

Regardless, not everyone agrees that this is the right way to move forward. Instead of criminalizing proxy betting, Sen. Janet Petersen, an opponent of the Senate bill, said, the state should do more about prevention.

Weigh Prevention Against Criminalizing Activity

Sen. Petersen argued that the companies that provided the gambling products were capable of providing better safeguards to protect consumers, but they chose not to. Another issue comes from the fact that there is no clear way to investigate proxy betting, nor is it outlined in any concrete terms.

In other words, asks Sen. Petersen, how do you prove someone engaged in proxy betting? However, the Department of Public Safety believes that criminalizing the act would allow the police to act against a crime that has already been placed in a rule but lacks the legal recourse to see law enforcement make any decisive steps in acting against the prohibited activity.