NORTHWOOD — The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission earlier this week approved the rules for sports gambling in the 19 state-licensed casinos, and the Diamond Jo Casino near Northwood has been getting ready for the start of the new gaming opportunity in less than two weeks.

Diamond Jo general manager Scott Smith says sports gambling has created a lot of talk around the casino.  “A lot of anticipation, a lot of excitement as it’s just another gaming experience that we can add on for our guests as we’re a full-service casino. A lot of people ask about it, even before this year before it passed, we always have people asking if we had sports wagering available at the property. Now we can finally do that come this month we will be able to offer all of that.”

Smith says construction is continuing on their sports wagering lounge in the casino.  “It’s going to be located between the Big Wheel Bar and our main cage. We’ll have our betting windows, our kiosks, our full set of TVs, lounge area so people can enjoy the games as well. So it’s a nice synergy right there between the Big Wheel Bar and the cage. When people need to drink that’s right there, and when they need to cash in their tickets, that’s available too.”

The new Iowa law allows people to sign up at the casino to use an app as long as bets are made inside the state’s borders. Smith says Diamond Jo has partnered with a nationally-known company to run their sports betting app.  “We actually partnered with FanDuel, who is an industry leader within the sports wagering world. Currently, they are the number one sports book in the state of New Jersey, and so we’re excited that Boyd Gaming has partnered with FanDuel across the country and is able to bring that product to our property here as well. Initially, we will open up with the sports book and then we’ll have the app then available shortly after that as well.”

Smith says people will be able to wager on a variety of sports. “The big ones will really be pro football, college basketball are the two sports that most people wager on. But we’ll be taking bets on baseball, hockey, pretty much you name it across the board, sport wagering offers will be available to them.”

Smith says you can stay up to date with the Diamond Jo’s sports betting opportunities by heading to their website at diamondjoworth.com