COVID-19 Leads To Fewer Sessions, Kills Online IN Casino Bill
- The online casino bill, SB 0417 died after failing to reach the committee deadline.
- Bill sponsor Senator Jon Ford blames COVID-19 for causing fewer committee session days.
- Lobbyists did not have time to properly educate Senators on online casinos.
INDIANAPOLIS – Online casino gaming in Indiana has unfortunately been set back indefinitely after the promising SB 0417 bill failed to meet the deadline to move past the committee.
The bill's main sponsor, Senator Jon Ford believes that due to the COVID-19 protocols shortening committee senate days, there was not an adequate amount of time for lobbyists to educate other senators on the market.
The bill is now back to the drawing board, as lawmakers find a new way to expand the legal Indiana gambling market.
Back To The Drawing Board
Indiana has already proven to be a successful market for online legal gambling with the thriving legal sports betting being dominated by online sportsbooks.
The addition of online casinos could have potentially added more monthly revenue for the Hoosier State. Unfortunately, there seems to have been no time for this to be explained to Senators due to less committee session days being available.
One of the main drawbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is that committee members cannot meet as often as they normally would.
Without these restrictions, the online casino bill SB 0417 would have had time to be reviewed by the senators. Sen. Ford views this as the core reason the bill died before being able to be voted on.
The Senate simply did not have the time to review the online casino process, explain the added revenue benefits, workout the potential regulations, or simply educate Senators who are unfamiliar with how online casinos would work.
Local Indiana casino gamblers will have to wait, as a new bill would have to be presented and hopefully will have the time needed to get past the committee for an official vote.
Indiana lawmakers won't be giving up, however, as the Hoosier State has already seen success in other markets. Legal online casinos would simply be the next step in Indiana iGaming. That next step will now, at best, be taken in the 2022 legislative session.