With Iowa banning the TouchPlay machines, similar to slot machines, Iowa Telecom is feeling the pinch. They reported net income was down $10.5 million, around 21% from a year ago. Revenue totaled $57.2 million, down 1.5 % from $58 million. They said that this was to be expected and that they had seen this coming and are not concerned at all with the figures.

They claimed that the number of telephone lines fell by 500 as did the number of DSL lines; the TouchPlay machines required a DSL line to be operated. With the ban of the slot machines, there was no need for the owners to keep the DSL line in play. However, the total DSL lines actually increased by 2,700 subscribers, which was a positive gain for the company. They totaled 38,600 subscribers, up from 22,600 a year earlier; an increase of more than 70%.

Telecom said they are pleased with the way the company is going, and that the loss of the telephone subscribers added to the gain of DSL subscribers will balance out. They expect to see profits increase soon enough. Their shares fell on the Stock Exchange roughly 4.7%.

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