Earlier this week, the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission finalized the rules for sports betting at all casinos. Wild Rose Jefferson is continuing to take steps to get ready to take bets.

Wild Rose Jefferson General Manager Travis Dvorak says on Tuesday Wild Rose Entertainment, which includes Jefferson and the other two locations in Clinton and Emmetsburg, had their sports betting licenses approved. He says the next step is to partner with a sports betting retailer to handle that aspect. Dvorak explains why they want to have another entity handle sports betting instead of doing it themselves.

“We want a partner who really understands sports betting, who is in this industry, who can offer the best products to our customers. And if you get someone who’s on the national perspective they can take large bets, and large pools, and they can offer some things that maybe we can’t when we’re small.”

The official start date that the IRGC set for casinos to start taking bets is August 15th. Dvorak says they won’t be ready by then, though the goal is to be ready by the end of the month for the start of college football season. 

Another aspect for sports betting is those that are 21 and over can place bets online. However, Dvorak says there are perimeters in place as set by the Iowa Legislature. It is required that anyone wanting to place sports bets online has to physically go into a casino and set up their account. Another requirement is what’s called “geo-fencing.” Dvorak explains, “You could be from Missouri but you’ve got to be in Iowa. Or if you’re from Jefferson and you take a vacation down in Florida you’re not going to be able to make a bet in Florida, they do geo-fence that. So you have to come and set your account here (at Wild Rose) and when you make bets, you have to be in the state to do so.”

Dvorak adds that you can’t bet on end game betting with individual statistics, no Olympic athletes who are under 18, and no minor league sports.