Council Bluffs, Iowa Now Offers Statewide Mobile Sportsbooks

• Mobile and online sports betting are now available through two Council Bluffs casinos.
• Omaha, Nebraska is less than five miles from Council Bluffs which allows Nebraskans to drive over the border and wager on the Cornhuskers with the apps the way New Yorkers drive into New Jersey.
• Iowa made a record handle for the month of September in sports bets with $72 million prior to the addition of these four new mobile sports wagering platforms.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – Four casinos in Council Bluffs, Iowa have been licensed for online and mobile sportsbooks by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission.

These platforms are something new for the town as they’ve only offered retail sports betting up until now.

To make the news that much better for the Iowa sports bettor, these new mobile options are accessible from anywhere in the state and are not confined to only the area of Council Bluffs for use.

The Details Of The Newest Sports Wagering Option For Iowans

William Hill US will be one of the mobile sports wagering outlets available. They have partnered with Caesars Entertainment for both the Harrah’s and Horseshoe locations as each casinos’ official sportsbook operator.

The retail sportsbooks of these facilities are also run by William Hill US. Gamblers in the state can download the application anywhere in Iowa and begin betting on sporting events.

While this is great news for the Hawkeye State, neighboring states can also benefit from these new offerings. Diehard Cornhuskers fans in Omaha, Nebraska can take a drive over state lines and use these applications to wager on all types of sports matchups.

Omaha is less than a five-mile drive away from Council Bluffs and that drive is even less than five miles as players only need to be in Iowa state lines to gamble with the mobile app.

“If you are a resident out of state — you could establish an account anywhere — but those wagers cannot take place until the customer is in the borders of the state,” said Brian Ohorilko, Iowa Racing and Gaming administrator. “Every one of these online sports wagering companies have sophisticated geolocation technology that blocks wagers outside of the state. So, a customer that may live in Omaha for example, they could establish an account, but they couldn’t use that account until they drove into the state of Iowa. And then at that point, those customers can wager and those accounts would be activated.”

What’s To Come

Council Bluffs has already done plenty of business in the sports betting industry with its land-based sportsbooks due to their location being so near the border of Nebraska.

They bring in a considerable amount of out of state business as Nebraska does not yet have a legal sports betting market of their own.

The Hawkeye State made a new record for September 2020 seeing $72 million in handle on sports bets. With online and mobile sports wagering platforms now available for Council Bluffs, the sky is the limit in terms of revenue and handle that can be made.

Retail locations have only allowed the city to get local business by those visiting the brick and mortar sportsbooks but now with their mobile platform being eligible for statewide business, they will have a much larger audience of potential sports bettors within their reach.

And launching these applications during football season will boost fan engagement exponentially as football season is the biggest season for sports betting operations across the nation.

News tags: Brian Ohorilko | Caesars Entertainment | Cornhuskers | Council Bluffs | Harrahs | Horseshoe | Iowa | Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission | Nebraska | NFL | Omaha | William Hill US