TouchPlay Gamblers Poorer than Other Iowans, Says New Study
As Iowa residents debate the merits of the Touch- Play gambling machines, with the Iowa state legislature poised to decide whether to ban the machines, a new analysis of the Iowa Lottery records brings a rarely- discussed element to the table.

According to the analysis, carried out by the Des Moines Sunday Register, the people who are playing the roughly 6,000 Touch Play gambling machines located in gas stations, convenience stores, bars, and other retailers around the state are significantly poorer than those who are not. That is, the biggest sales for the gambling machines are in neighborhoods in which the median income is substantially lower than the Iowa average- $33,500, compared to the close to $40,000 that the median Iowan family takes in each year.

Other signs of a gap in socio- economic status between enthusiastic Touch Play gambling players and those who do not play as much are clearly evident. The machines are the most successful in neighborhoods where most residents, an average of 33%, rent rather than own their homes. Census data suggests that the statewide average for home ownership in Iowa comes in at over 70%.

Furthermore, users of the TouchPlay gambling machines tend to be less educated than other Iowans. Less than 10% have earned a college degree, compared with over 20% on average for Iowa residents.

Many Iowa residents and politicians say that the gambling machines merely prey on the state’s poor, and that they should be banned. There are already enough problems, they say, in the particular areas in which the TouchPlay gambling machines are the most popular.

Many people from the East Side of Des Moines, a depressed area in which the gambling machines are extremely popular, would like the see the TouchPlay machines removed.

"My question is, is it a fair trade for Mister and Mrs. Joe Six-Pack? Are they getting back what they put in?" asked state Rep. Wayne Ford, a Democrat from Des Moines. "What your records show me is that many Iowans . . . are banking on the American Dream by gambling."

Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie would also like to see the gambling machines go.

"The calls that I have gotten are the people who are angry about it and are just looking for somebody to stand up and get them out of there. They see their neighbors, they see their friends, they see mothers in grocery stores and convenience stores with kids on their laps feeding these machines, and they are just outraged," Cownie said.

Others, however, say that Iowans are going to gamble regardless of whether there are TouchPlay machines in their communities, and that the machines simply save them a trip to one of the state’s casinos.

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