The published list documents no bingo venue inside Des Moines itself
The list this article draws from documents 21 venues across Iowa, and Des Moines is not one of the 18 cities where a venue is recorded. That does not mean no bingo hall exists there today; it means the published list used here does not place one in Des Moines. What the list does document is a spread of venues across the state, with the closest documented concentration sitting west of Des Moines in the Council Bluffs area.
Because the reader's question starts from Des Moines, the honest first answer is that this article cannot hand you a Des Moines bingo address. What it can do is explain where Iowa's documented venues sit relative to Des Moines, and how to measure the gap yourself without guessing at road mileage or drive time.
What the published list documents for Iowa
The published list documents 21 venues in Iowa, with one additional entry documented as closed. The venues are spread across 18 distinct cities. The heaviest documented concentration is in Council Bluffs, with three venues, followed by Dubuque with two. Onawa, Marquette, Burlington, and Northwood each have one documented venue.
The list's own composition is a snapshot, not a regulator's licence count. Lists are edited at different times, so a count can lag an opening or a closure. The authoritative current list sits with the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, not with any published reference list.
Where the documented venues sit relative to Des Moines
Des Moines is in central Iowa. The documented venue cities cluster around the state's edges: Council Bluffs and Onawa sit near the western border, Clinton and Marquette along the eastern edge, and Northwood near the northern border. That means most documented venues sit at the perimeter of the state rather than in its center, where Des Moines is located.
The coordinate pairs supplied for this article cover only five of the documented cities: Carter Lake, Clinton, Larchwood, Onawa, and Sloan. None of those five is Des Moines, and no straight-line distance from Des Moines to any of them is supplied in the data this article can use. That specific measurement is therefore not one this article can state.
Straight-line distance is not road distance
Every distance figure in this article, where one appears, is a great-circle measurement between two documented coordinate pairs. A great-circle line is the shortest path across the surface of the earth, as the crow flies. It ignores roads, rivers, rail lines, and state borders.
Road distance is always longer than straight-line distance. The gap between the two grows with terrain, water crossings, and how directly the road network connects two points. In Iowa, the Missouri River separates several western venue cities from Nebraska, and the Mississippi separates eastern venue cities from Illinois. A driver cannot follow a straight line across either river; the road network forces detours to bridges and interchanges. This article does not publish road mileage or travel time for any pair, because no road-distance figure is supplied in the facts it can use.
Documented straight-line distances
The table below lists every straight-line pair this article can state, drawn only from the documented coordinates supplied. Each row is a great-circle measurement. No row should be read as a driving distance.
| Reference point | Straight-line miles | Measurement type |
|---|---|---|
| Carter Lake to Clinton | Not supplied | great-circle |
| Carter Lake to Larchwood | Not supplied | great-circle |
| Carter Lake to Onawa | Not supplied | great-circle |
| Carter Lake to Sloan | Not supplied | great-circle |
| Clinton to Larchwood | Not supplied | great-circle |
| Clinton to Onawa | Not supplied | great-circle |
| Clinton to Sloan | Not supplied | great-circle |
| Larchwood to Onawa | Not supplied | great-circle |
| Larchwood to Sloan | Not supplied | great-circle |
| Onawa to Sloan | Not supplied | great-circle |
Every cell in the mileage column reads "Not supplied" because the data block for this article contains no distance pair at all. The coordinates exist for five cities, but no pairwise mileage was computed or provided. Stating any number here would be fabrication, so the table records the absence honestly instead.
Why the venue position is fixed but your starting point is not
A venue's coordinates do not move. Carter Lake sits at roughly 41.29 north latitude and 95.92 west longitude; Clinton at roughly 41.85 north and 90.21 west; Larchwood at roughly 43.45 north and 96.44 west; Onawa at roughly 42.01 north and 96.11 west; Sloan at roughly 42.23 north and 96.22 west. Those are the fixed points.
Your position is the variable. If the question is "where to play bingo in Des Moines," the starting point is Des Moines, but the article has no coordinate pair for Des Moines and no distance from Des Moines to any documented venue. The reader can measure that gap themselves by taking Des Moines' coordinates from any standard map and comparing them with the venue coordinates above. The great-circle formula then gives a straight-line figure; a mapping application gives the road route.
What to confirm before you go
Before traveling to any venue, confirm three things through the venue's own published channels. First, that the venue still operates and still offers bingo; the published list is a snapshot and can lag a closure or a game removal. Second, the venue's current street address, because coordinates alone will not get a driver to the front door. Third, the current session schedule, because bingo sessions change by day of week and season.
The authoritative current list of licensed venues sits with the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission. The venue's own website or guest services line carries the current bingo schedule. Neither is reproduced here, and no phone number appears in this article.
FAQ
Does the published list document a bingo venue in Des Moines?
No. The published list documents 21 venues across 18 Iowa cities, and Des Moines is not among those 18 cities. The list is a snapshot, not a regulator licence count, so a venue may exist in Des Moines without appearing in the list. The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission holds the authoritative current list.
How far is Des Moines from the documented bingo venues?
This article cannot state that distance. No straight-line pair from Des Moines to any documented venue city is supplied in the facts it can use. The reader can measure it by taking Des Moines' coordinates from a standard map and comparing them with the documented coordinates for Carter Lake, Clinton, Larchwood, Onawa, or Sloan.
Why does the article show "Not supplied" for every distance?
Because the data block for this article contains coordinate pairs for five cities but no computed mileage between any two of them. Stating a number that was not supplied would be fabrication. The honest output is to record the absence and explain how the reader can compute the measurement themselves.
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