2011 Iowa Code
TITLE III PUBLIC SERVICES AND REGULATION
SUBTITLE 4 GAMBLING
CHAPTER 99B GAMES OF SKILL OR CHANCE, AND RAFFLES
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.

[C77, 79, 81, §99B.9; 81 Acts, ch 44, §13]

89 Acts, ch 231, §22; 2003 Acts, ch 77, §1; 2004 Acts, ch 1086, §23; 2007 Acts, ch 119, §4