Indiana iGaming Bill Advances - Hurdles Remain

The Indiana House of Representatives is taking another swing at passing iGaming legislation. It's proven to be a difficult endeavor in the past, but hopes are high that 2025 might be the year that Indiana residents finally get a chance to play online casino games from home. Then again, some of the same hurdles remain in place.

Indiana’s most recent online casino and iLottery bill has cleared the appointed House Committee. While that's a positive sign, the next step in the process has been the graveyard where prior bills have gone to die. The next step is getting a favorable "fiscal note" attached to the bill.

About the Current Bill

On January 29, 2025, the House’s Committee on Public Policy recommended the passage of HB 1432 with stated amendments. The bill was originally filed by Rep. Ethan Manning with the support of three other co-sponsors.

The bill as written would set forth to affect three (3) aspects of gambling in the state. Those three (3) effects are:

• Using guidelines that are similar to what's in place for online sportsbetting, the bill would set the regulatory framework for online casino gambling


• The Indiana Lottery would be permitted to sell lottery tickets online


• It would create the framework for research and treatment related to gambling addiction
  

After clearing the House’s Ways and Means Committee, the bill could proceed to the House Floor for a full discussion and possible vote. That's where the fiscal note issue might rear its head.

Fiscal Note History

The history behind the fiscal note issue related to online casino gambling is short but negative. The problem arose in February 2023, which was the last time an online gambling bill made it out of committee. The fiscal note attached to that bill was highly critical of the contents. That was none too pleasing to Senator John Ford who started the bill as “one of the worst documents I’ve seen come out of our legislative services.”

The focus of the negative criticism fell squarely on concerns that the legalization of online casino gambling would have an adverse effect on the state's retail casino community. The thought was the impact could be as much as 30% on the revenue streams of land-based casinos. Two subsequent studies have dispelled those concerns.

On the contrary, online casino gambling seems to have the support of the Indiana Casino Association. Association representative Bonilla Muñiz reported that he felt online casinos would bring tremendous benefits to retail casino operators and the state in the form of tax revenue.

HB 1432 addresses that issue by requiring that iGaming operators align themselves through partnerships with the state's casinos and racetracks. It seems to be a fair solution that would eliminate some of the revenue cannibalism that is feared among some of the smaller retail casino operations.

Note: This is Indiana's 4th attempt to get iGaming legislation passed.v Residents hope it will be the lest.