Indiana House Committee Passes Digital Lottery Bill
On January 6, an Indiana House committee voted 9-3 to advance House Bill 1078, establishing online lottery sales in Indiana for the first time.
The bill addresses what state lottery officials describe as a modernization imperative, allowing online purchases of draw games and instant tickets from a system that has depended on retail locations since 1989.
An aging customer base and flat sales of approximately $1.7 billion annually over the past five years reinforce the need to attract younger, digitally-oriented players.
The measure still requires approval from both the full House and Senate before the governor can sign it into law.
Jared Bond, the Hoosier Lottery’s external affairs director, described the changing landscape:
“When the Hoosier Lottery was created in 1989 … there was really only one way to buy a lottery ticket,” Bond said. “You walked into a retailer with cash, but today Hoosiers utilize their mobile devices for all kinds of different things, like banking and to shop.”
Online lottery operations already exist in eighteen states, including Illinois, Kentucky, and Michigan.
Should lawmakers and the governor approve the bill, implementation would not begin until summer 2027. The delay would allow time for vendor selection and deployment of age and location verification systems.
An analysis by the Legislative Services Agency indicates that online sales would generate revenue increases of between $314 million and $629 million annually in the third year.
Those gains would result in annual profit increases of between $31 million and $94 million, compared to the current annual profit level of approximately $340 million.
If approved, Indiana would add to a growing list of states with online lottery operations.
Online Casinos and Sweepstakes Proposals Also Under Review
If approved, the digital lottery bill would mark the biggest step forward for Indiana’s gambling industry since sports betting was legalized in 2019. But lawmakers aren’t stopping with online lottery sales alone.
The same committee that advanced the iLottery bill also proposed adding language to House Bill 1052 that could legalize online casino gaming. This would allow residents to play slots, poker, and other casino games on computers and phones.
Last year, a combined bill covering both iLottery and iGaming failed to advance past committee. This year, legislators are pursuing them as separate proposals.
Indiana law does not specifically address sweepstakes games, leaving the state’s gaming commission without authority to set rules or monitor them, according to Natalie Huffman, the commission’s general counsel.
An estimated 200,000 Hoosiers have begun playing such games, according to Sean Ostrow of the Social Gaming Leadership Alliance, an industry lobbying group.
Eight states have banned sweepstakes games, with Indiana among the other nine states considering such bans. Representatives of sweepstakes companies told the committee that no states currently regulate the games, but said they were open to state oversight and taxation.
Dan Marks, chief financial officer of ARB Interactive, warned that a ban would force out responsible operators.
If this bill passes and legitimate companies like us are forced to exit, consumer demand will still remain and our players will simply drift to those offshore sites that have no compunction about operating illegally, allowing minors to participate and not paying out legitimate prizes.
