A History of Gambling in the Northwest

Settlements on the Mississippi River generally lagged behind settlement of the Ohio valley by about 30 years.

In the mid-nineteenth century, many of Iowa's settlers came west from Ohio, apparently wishing to escape the rapid population growth.

Indeed, many of the Iowa pioneer families of the 1840s had been Ohio pioneer families between 1790 and 1820.

Missouri was settled much earlier than the rest of the land west of the Mississippi because of its location on the lower Mississippi and its proximity to the Gulf of Mexico.

In fact, Missouri's settlement coincided closely with that of the Northwest Territory.

During the eighteenth century French Canadian trappers and traders roamed the region, but after 1815 pioneers pored in, especially along the Missouri and Mississippi.

Thus, gambling and anti-gambling activity west of the Mississippi originated in the territorial days of Missouri.

In 1814, the Missouri Territorial Legislature passed its first law prohibiting gambling. Iowa's first gambling statute was not enacted until 1838--- 24 years after Missouri's--- and reflected the later period of settlement of the Iowa Territory.

In general, migration upriver from St. Louis was slow because the United States continued to recognize Indian title to the region, even after the Louisiana Purchase.

Iowa was pronounced a U.S. Territory after the same year gambling was declared illegal. At the same time, and in sharp contrast to the laws of other areas, Iowa made gambling debts collectible.

The statute also provided a procedure by which gambling losses could be recovered for use by the country by any person.

The 1838 law made it a misdemeanor to keep gaming tables and to 'induce, entice, or permit any person to bet or play' dice.

With the passage of time, new laws enacted by the newer territories were more sophisticated than the ons enacted by their predecessors.

Instead of simply prohibiting the possession or use of gambling devices, for instance, Iowa introduced a nuisance law and provided for the seizure and destruction of gambling devices.

Similarly, witness immunity was made available to law enforcement officials in Iowa but not to those who were trying to suppress gambling in the Ohio River Valley.

Iowa was also the first Midwestern jurisdiction to declare that any person who 'does or is suspected to get his livelihood by gaming' was a vagrant and subject to imprisonment.

In 1843, the Iowa legislature expanded the Territory's gambling laws to include more of the traditional provisions. Lotteries, never popular in Iowa, were outlawed.

Also, all gambling debts were declared void, thus repealing the contradictory provision in the 1833 law.

Losers could sue for recovery of losses within six months, and if a loser failed to sue, for any other person could do so. An element of private enforcement was thus introduced.