Can You Bet on MLS in Iowa?

Can You Bet on MLS in Iowa

Iowa raced out the gates early legalizing sports betting in August 2019. Since then, residents gained access to regulated markets with both retail and online sportsbooks spread state wide. Major League Soccer is just one of many leagues and sports available to Hawkeye State bettors.

While market share falls short compared to traditional American stalwarts football and basketball, MLS betting in the state is growing. Iowa is not home to a single major sports team in any league, but they have a lot of smaller teams including Des Moines Menace, the biggest soccer club in the state.

Des Moines is the biggest city in Iowa with a population of just over 220,000, so you can understand why no major sports team is based there. The 3.2 million Iowans that call the state their home are too spread out in smaller towns. However, their interest in sport is high, as evidenced by the 50 million sports bets placed within state lines every year.

Here’s everything you could wish to know about sports and MLS betting in Iowa.

They Have Always Been Pro Gambling

Iowa Riverboat Casinos

Iowa have always been quite open to the gambling industry, even back in the early 20th century. One prohibition ended, Iowa legalized pari-mutuel betting on horse races in 1933. It was a way of raising revenue for the state, but it also kept gambling controlled within specific times and places.

It was in the 1980s when a state lottery began, and riverboat casinos were legalized in 1989. Iowa was actually the first state to do this, perhaps due to their rich river culture having the Mississippi and Missouri rivers running through the state. Many other states followed their lead on this. River boat casinos had been popular back in the 1800s so there was some history there, but it was also a good compromise when debating with anti-gambling groups, and a good way of testing public sentiment surrounding gambling. They were also easier to legislate for.

In 2004, the state legislature passed laws allowing licensed riverboat casinos to move to land-based facilities, provided they were located within the same county. This was just 25 years later, so the waters had been tested and the population had accepted the idea of casino gambling in the Hawkeye state. Casinos were built, tourists were attracted, and tax revenues increased.

By 2012 there were 19 state-licensed casinos, and that number has grown to 23 as of 2024.

Sports Betting Legalized After PASPA Repealed

Iowa Legalize Sports Betting
Governor Kim Reynolds

When the famous PASPA act was repealed in 2018, Iowa was quick off the mark to take advantage.

The argument was that sports betting was already going on in the state, but it was unregulated. So rather than let it go on in the shadows, it made sense to legalize it, regulate it to make it safer, and collect tax dollars on top.

The governor, Kim Reynolds, quickly drafted legislature that would allow in-person and online betting (most states started with in-person only, but not Iowa) for anyone 21 years of age or older, with wagers on professional and collegiate sports allowed. That said, prop bets on individual college athletes were prohibited in order to avoid integrity issues such as bribery.

Law makers voted 67-31 in favour of the bill, and sports betting became legal in the Hawkeye State in May 2019, making Iowa the 11th state in America to legalize it.

Despite both in-person and online sports betting being allowed from the start, initially, bettors had to sign up in-person at a casino in order to use online betting services. That rule was changed in 2021 to make betting more easily accessible for Iowans, and the interest in sports betting grew from there.

The state take a comparatively low 6.75% tax on sports betting, making it a very attractive place for betting companies to offer their services. For this reason, some of the biggest names in the industry struck up partnerships with casinos in Iowa, including:

  • DraftKings
  • BetMGM
  • Caesars
  • FanDuel

There are others too of course.

By 2022, more than $2 billion worth of bets had been made by Iowan sports fans, and the state made more than $500 million in taxes from all gambling activities. Happily, problem gambling rates have remained stable, so it does not appear that legalizing sports betting has had any significant adverse impacts either.

Are There any MLS Teams in Iowa?

Des Moines Menace
Des Moines Menace

No.

The only soccer team in Iowa worth mentioning is Des Moines Menace, and they are in League 2 of the USL. So a far cry from MLS levels. There haven’t even been any plans to establish an MLS expansion club here because the geography and population spread just wouldn’t be able to support one.

In fact, there isn’t an MLS team within 250 miles of Iowa’s state border.

The three closest Major League Soccer clubs are:

  • Sporting Kansas City
  • Minnesota United FC
  • Chicago Fire FC

These clubs are all in neighboring states, but even if someone lived right on the state line it would take between 4 and 5 hours to travel to one of them from Iowa. Anyone living in the heart of the state, somewhere like Marshalltown or Fort Dodge, would have no chance. So Iowans may well support a team in a neighboring state, but it’s unlikely they would be able to attend games very often.

That wouldn’t stop them betting on their club of course.