The Nation - News from Aug. 16, 1989

Two Iowa counties voted to let floating casinos land at their Mississippi River docks, but voters in a third county disapproved in the first referendums on the state’s new river boat gambling law. Voters in Dubuque County, the largest of the three counties, approved the proposal by a 2-1 margin. In Clayton County, the measure narrowly passed 1,122 to 1,060. However, in Allamakee County in extreme northeast Iowa, 1,099 rejected the measure and only 645 voted for it. Six other counties in Iowa hold elections on the gambling question later this month. Iowa’s new law allows blackjack, roulette, slot machines, dice games and video gambling on excursion boats beginning April 1, 1991, in counties where voters first approve it.