Iowa’s Sports Betting Market Keeps Growing While Minnesota Waits, and Fairmont Feels the Gap
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Fairmont sits close enough to the Iowa line, roughly ten miles down I-90 from the border, that Martin County residents have had a legal, regulated alternative for sports betting since 2019, years before Minnesota’s own legislature has managed to pass anything. Iowa legalized sports wagering that August and has since built one of the steadier mid-size markets in the country, while Minnesota remains stuck without a law of its own. For Fairmont, that gap isn’t theoretical. It’s a short drive, and the full sports betting revenue in the US currently tracked state by state makes the contrast plain: Iowa has a column of numbers, and Minnesota has a blank entry.
What Iowa’s Market Looks Like From the Minnesota Side of the Line
Iowa bettors have wagered roughly $14.4 billion through licensed sportsbooks since 2019, with operators keeping about $1.16 billion of that as gross revenue, a hold rate near 8%, slightly below the national average. The state has collected around $78 million in tax revenue off that activity, funneled through the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission’s oversight. None of that money or activity is available to Minnesota residents legally from home, which is exactly why Fairmont’s location near a working state line matters more than it would for a city in the middle of the state.
How Iowa’s System Actually Works, for Anyone Considering the Drive
Iowa’s sportsbooks operate under license through the state’s Racing and Gaming Commission, with in-person registration required at a licensed casino at least once before a bettor can use a mobile app anywhere in the state, a rule that’s caught out-of-state visitors before. For a Fairmont resident, that means the first trip across the border has to happen at an actual casino sportsbook counter, not just a download from an app store, though every wager after that initial sign-up can be placed from anywhere inside Iowa’s borders. It’s a meaningfully bigger commitment than simply opening an app at home, which is part of why Minnesota’s continued absence from the legal map matters more the closer a resident lives to a working alternative. Registering in person also means a bettor needs a valid ID and, in most cases, a matching Iowa address on file with the casino or a clear explanation of residency status, a detail that trips up plenty of out-of-state visitors who assume the process works the same as it does in states with fully remote registration.
Why Minnesota Keeps Missing the Deadline
The state came closer than usual this year. Senate File 4139, a tribal-led bill that would give Minnesota’s eleven tribal nations exclusive control of mobile wagering, cleared an initial committee vote before stalling in the Senate, according to analysis of the bill’s status, the same sticking point that has killed several prior attempts: disagreement over how legalized sports betting would affect the charitable gambling proceeds that fund local nonprofits and community organizations across the state, including in Martin County. Most industry watchers now expect a launch, if one happens at all, sometime in 2027 given the typical runway states need between passing a bill and getting sportsbooks actually live.
What the Wait Actually Costs a Border Town Like Fairmont
Nationally, sports betting revenue hit a record $16.96 billion in 2025, an increase of nearly 23% from the year before, according to one national sports outlet’s coverage. That kind of growth is exactly what Minnesota keeps sitting out while neighboring states, including Iowa just down the interstate, keep collecting tax revenue that could otherwise be funding roads, schools, or property tax relief inside Minnesota’s own borders. Looking at nationwide sportsbook revenue figures state by state, Iowa’s market is nowhere near the largest in the country, yet even a mid-size operation like Iowa’s has generated more in six years than Minnesota has been able to debate its way toward in nearly as long. For Fairmont residents, the practical reality is that a fully legal option already exists close enough to reach without much trouble, even if it means driving instead of opening an app from the living room.
Downtown Fairmont has its own momentum this fall regardless of what’s happening in St. Paul, with the recent open house giving residents a look at the downtown development project taking shape near the lakes. Martin County has never been shy about looking south to Iowa when Minnesota’s own policies lag behind, and sports betting has become another example, one most residents haven’t clocked yet, of a border town watching its neighbor build something the state itself still hasn’t managed to finish.