Tim Dwight Makes First Sports Bet At Ameristar Sportsbook

• Sports betting is officially legal in Iowa.
• Iowa is the first midwestern state to launch sports betting.
• More sportsbooks are expected to open throughout the next few weeks in Iowa.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – Former Hawkeye and NFL star Tim Dwight makes the first sports bet at the Ameristar Casino Sportsbook on Thursday.

Experiencing The Ameristar Sportsbook

Dwight started off his career playing for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Afterward, he was drafted to the Atlanta Falcons. Since then, Dwight played for the San Diego Chargers, New England Patriots, New York Jets, and the Oakland Raiders. Despite the number of teams he played with, he did not bet on any of them to win the Super Bowl. Dwight bet $100 on the Chicago Bears to win Super Bowl LIV.

Dwight was the first to experience the new Ameristar Sportsbook. Ameristar spent around $750,000 in renovations for their new sportsbook. The money was spent on televisions, creating a large seating area, and a VIP betting area. The new sportsbook is located inside the Amerisports Bar. This allows sports bettors to eat and drink while they watch their bets play out. General manager, Paul Czak, expressed that he was pleased with the turnout.

“This is much busier than we would have been on any other Thursday. I think it’s a great start,” said Czak.

There is one thing that the Ameristar Sportsbook is missing. Sports betting is legal thanks to IA SF 617 passing and becoming law. This bill allowed land-based and mobile wagering to take place. Currently, Ameristar Casino has not announced they are going to launch a mobile sports betting app.

Big Launch Day For Iowa

The Ameristar Casino was not the only location to launch sports betting on Thursday. There were five other sportsbooks that launched alongside with Ameristar. A few of these sportsbooks also launched mobile sportsbooks as well.

To use a mobile sportsbook in Iowa, sports bettors must first register at the retail sportsbook. Once they do that, bettors can bet on sports no matter where they are in Iowa. Sports bettors cannot use these Iowa-based online sportsbooks outside of the state. But this does mean that sports betting is essentially available statewide in Iowa.

The six sportsbooks that launched on Thursday are not going to be the only Iowa sportsbooks. The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission said that all 19 state-regulated casinos will launch their sportsbooks in the coming weeks.

If all 19 Iowa casino’s launch sportsbooks, sports betting is going to become huge in the state. The state government collects 7.5% of sports betting revenue to use for various state projects. With more locations, sports bettors all over Iowa will have bettor opportunities to sign up for mobile wagering. This means more taxes can be collected for the Iowa state government.

News tags: Ameristar Casino Hotel Council Bluffs | Chicago Bears | Iowa | Iowa Racing Gaming Commission | New England Patriots | New York Jets | Oakland Raiders | Paul Czak | San Diego Chargers | Tim Dwight