Today, Iowa is home to more than a dozen riverboat casinos, including the 30,000-square-foot Rhythm City Casino. If casinos were housed on riverboats they could legally operate-as long as the boats sailed into the Mississippi River every once in a while. Iowa was the first state to offer legal riverboat gambling in an effort to collect tax revenue. Today’s riverboat casino is more likely to be docked and part of a much larger complex than one that navigates up and down the Mississippi.Įven those who don’t like being on the water can still enjoy the unique adventure of gambling on a riverboat casino! Here is a list of some of the top states for U.S. Since most of Mississippi’s Gulf Coast riverboat casinos were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, several states now allow riverboat casinos to be built on land-as long as they are near a navigable waterway. In today’s world of riverboat gambling, some states no longer require the boats to leave dock or have a captain or crew on board. Over time, the regulations were changed and allowed gambling when the ship was docked.

The steamers weren’t considered floating casinos, but rather, a place where passengers could gamble among themselves.

As more cities passed ordinances against gambling houses in urban settings, purveyors moved on to the unregulated (deemed “international”) waters of the Mississippi and other waterways aboard river steamers. The deep-rooted history of riverboat gambling in the U.S. also has major roots in riverboat casinos? When you think of gambling in the U.S., you probably think of casinos in major gambling hubs such as Las Vegas and Atlantic City.

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