Indiana is a signature from Gov. Mike Braun away from joining the list of states that shutdown sweepstakes casinos.
On Thursday, Indiana lawmakers gave final approval to HB 1052, a bill with legislation concerning multiple state agencies, which includes a ban on sweepstakes casinos. Both chambers had to approve changes made in a conference committee.
The House voted 68-21 after it passed by a 86-12 vote the first time around. The Senate approved it by a 46-4 vote, up from the 37-8 vote a week ago.
Braun has seven days after he receives the bill before it becomes law without his signature. The ban would go into effect July 1.
Poker makes it through committee
Sen. Ryan Walker‘s amendment to exclude skill-based peer-to-peer poker sites from the sweepstakes ban survived conference committee.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Ethan Manning, called it a “narrow exception” during Thursday’s vote. Manning said he only dissented to make some technical changes.
Walker’s amendment was unanimously approved at the Senate conference committee.
“This just clarifies that peer-to-peer skill-based poker games are not sweepstakes games, which they’re not, and there’s some important differences in the two types,” Walker said at the time. “A sweepstakes game is a chance-based game, it’s the player vs. the house, peer-to-peer poker is a skill-based game and it is player vs. player.”
Regulation attempt falls flat
Two of the members of the bill’s conference committee were Sens. Ron Alting and David Niezgodski, who mentioned at the Senate hearing the possibility of regulating the industry.
Alting said he received a “tremendous” amount of feedback against the idea. It sounded like he was leaving the door open on the discussion, though.
“In lieu of time in this short, short session and trying to beat this thing to death in a conference committee, I chose it was just best to listen to my colleagues to not call the amendment,” Alting said, apologizing to sweepstakes supporters. “… There will be another session that we’ll see what we can do.”
Social Gaming Leadership Alliance Managing Director Sean Ostrow suggested the industry could generate $20 million annually in taxes.
