Key points:
- The House Public Committee passed the proposal, but it did not move to the Ways and Means Committee
- House Speaker Todd Huston said industry members could be affected in different ways by the current bill and called it “complex.”
Hoosier gamblers will have to wait beyond this year’s legislative session for another chance at legalized iGaming.
Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston said this week that proposed legislation to bring legal online gambling and online lottery games to Indiana “won’t move forward this legislative session,” according to an Indiana Capital Chronicle news report.
He told local news that House Bill 1432 is complex and has “a lot of different moving parts.”
Huston further commented, “And I think, you know, just trying to find something there was some consensus on, felt like it was a pretty tough spot to be.”
The House Public Policy Committee recently passed two proposals, one that would allow legal online gaming as well as allowing the Hoosier Lottery to sell tickets online, and another that would permit veterans organizations, bars and charitable entities to house electronic pull tab machines.
The committee passed House Bill 1432, for legal iGaming and iLottery, by a vote of 9-2 and approved the pull tab machines bill, House Bill 1433, in a vote of 13-0. State Rep. Ethan Manning of Logansport authored both proposals.
Good to know: However, this legislation did not make it to the Ways and Means Committee for approval
Huston commended Manning for stewarding the bill but noted that gaming industry members would be affected differently by HB 1432.
He told local reporters, “There’s all sorts of moving parts about how it impacts certain communities, what it does to the overall gaming environment in Indiana.
“I think all those things just make it complex to work through.”
Indiana is home to 13 commercial casinos and has offered legal mobile and retail sports betting since 2019.
