News

Iowa Lottery attempts to change law to allow lottery vending kiosks

The Iowa Lottery is attempting to deploy vending kiosks to sell scratch tickets and pull tabs. However, the lottery will need to change the law to add an exception for self-service kiosks since 'monitor vending machines,' have been banned since 2006.

October 19, 2015

The Iowa Lottery is currently attempting to acquire and deploy new vending kiosks to dispense scratch tickets and pull-tabs, according to areportby The Des Moines Register. However, the deployment is facing some problems due to a past controversy when in 2006, the Iowa Lottery deployed "TouchPlay" machines that closely resembled slot machines.

Many Iowan residents complained about the TouchPlays, because the machines turned shopping into a casino-like experience. The Iowa Legislature banned all "monitor vending machines" and forced the lottery to pull all the TouchPlays. The issue is that the new kiosks would fall under the category of a "monitor vending machine."

The Iowa Lottery has proposed to add the term "self-service kiosk" to the law so it can utilize its kiosks. Lawmakers are currently investigating the issue to see if the term would fit. "I would like to do more research on this," said Brad Zaun, state senator of Urbandale. "The bottom line for me is that I am not interested in expanding gambling in the state of Iowa."

"We will look at what the machine does. If it is a single point of purchase for a single lottery ticket as a transaction, then I think it will be successful," said Jeff Danielson, state senator of Cedar Falls. "If it functions like a slot machine, then they will not be successful."