Iowa moved one step closer to launching legal sports betting after the state’s governor put her name to legislation that state pols approved last month.

On Monday, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed Senate File 617, which will allow sports betting at the state’s 19 land/water-based gaming venues as well as via mobile devices. The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission has yet to craft its betting regulations, but the expectation is that (at the very least) land-based betting will be up and running by the time the new NFL season kicks off this fall.

Reynolds’ signature was anything but a given, as she had largely kept her own counsel during the occasionally heated debates over betting between legislators in both state chambers. Whatever her personal views, her signature makes Iowa the third state (so far) to formally legalize betting this year, following recent signings by governors in Montana and Indiana, while Tennessee’s guv has said he’ll let his state’s betting bill become law without his signature.

Iowa’s betting legislation compares quite favorably to those other states, as it boasts a favorable tax rate of 7.5% (6.75% of betting revenue plus a 0.75% cut for local charities). License fees have been set at $45k with extremely reasonable $10k renewal fees. The state has set equally reasonable expectations for its own share of annual betting proceeds at between $2.3m and $4m, so at least we’ll be spared those whingeing ‘where’s the beef’ op-eds.