Indiana hits the sweepstakes market with a new draft law

• Sweepstakes are coming increasingly under country-wide pressure, with a new draft law introduced in Indiana
• House Bill 1052 seeks to outright criminalize the sweepstakes model, arguing it skirts gaming laws and issuing fines of $100,000 per offense discovered
• Indiana could join California and New York in outlawing and criminalizing the ecosystem before long

Days after New York became the latest state to vote on and pass an anti-sweepstakes social casino bill, Indiana has launched an offensive of its own, with the sector coming under increased pressure.

Sweepstakes hit all over the country as new draft laws emerge

Appellations from the Social Gaming Leadership Alliance (SGLA) have so far fallen on deaf ears, with calls to regulate, not outright ban, the sector not striking home with determined lawmakers who have mustered sufficient support in other jurisdictions, too, including California.

The dual-currency model, which allows you to cash out rewards after playing with the native non-monetary currency at a social online casino, has increasingly come under scrutiny, with similar moves against the sector in other states, including Connecticut, Montana, Washington, Idaho, and New Jersey. Florida has also pitched a bill in early December, prompting a swift reaction from the SGLA:

"We strongly disagree with the categorization that Social Plus games that utilize sweepstakes promotions have anything in common with illegal offshore gambling operations. HB 591 laudably seeks to stop illegal gambling from taking place in the state of Florida, but fails to account for how lawful promotional sweepstakes operate in Florida."

Criminalizing sweepstakes social casinos becomes the focus of a new bill in Indiana

Indiana is now putting forward a tentative anti-sweepstakes bill, with Rep. Ethan Manning pitching House Bill 1052, which seeks to outright criminalize sweepstakes casinos, specifically citing their use of the aforementioned dual-currency model.

Rep. Manning’s argument is clear: this system allows for the use of casino-style gaming without necessarily checking all the regulatory boxes, which has been increasingly understood to skirt local iGaming laws – if those exist, and in the case of Indiana, traditional online casinos are still not allowed.

An operator found guilty of providing sweepstakes games under the proposed draft law would face a $100,000 fine for every offense discovered at a time. House Bill 1052 is already in the Public Policy Committee, where it will undergo its first review.

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