Indiana online casino and lottery bill fails

An online casino and lottery bill that previously passed through House Public Policy Committee will not be moving forward in Indiana.

House Bill 1432 proposed the legalization of online slots and tables games, and the digitization of the Indiana Lottery to allow the lottery to provide instants slots.

On Thursday, Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston announced that the bill would not move to the house floor after it stalled in the Ways and Means Committee. According to Huston the overall effect the bill would have on the gambling industry in the state has not been fully understood and led to several complaints and concerns from Indiana residents.

HB 1432 would have allowed Indiana’s 13 brick-and-mortar casinos, riverboats, and racinos to operate up to three online casino skins either individually or by partnering with a third -party operator. Each skin would require a $500,000 licensing fee which could be renewed annually for $250,000.

Online gross gaming revenue would have been taxed at 22-30 percent. It was estimated that Indiana could have collected between $413- $929 million in tax revenue over the first three years of legal online casino gaming.

The failure of Indiana’s online casino gaming bill followed a similar result in Virginia earlier this month. Several other states have also introduced online casino gaming bills during the current legislative session, including Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Wyoming.

All four states are considerable longshots to actually pass and implement those bills. Currently only eight states have legalized online casino gaming: Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and West Virginia.