A few days following our initial post, a conference committee has successfully reconciliated differences between the House and the Senate versions of HB 1052.
Indiana’s HB 1052, a wide-ranging bill that would ban sweepstakes casinos in the Hoosier State, has passed the Senate with amendments, but the House – where the bill originated and already passed – rejected the changes.
HB 1052 is an omnibus bill, featuring proposals on a range of issues including horse racing, the sale of tobacco and alcohol, sports betting, and sweepstakes casinos.
Lawmakers shouldn’t delay if they want to concur on the bill’s wording before the session end next week.
HB 1052’s Progress So Far
Introduced in December last year by Representative Ethan Manning, HB 1052 was later amended and passed by the House before being substantially revised in the Senate, prompting the House to formally dissent from the Senate’s changes yesterday. It’s still unclear which changes the House rejected exactly.
On the subject of sweepstakes gaming, the definition of a “sweepstakes game” was altered to include “multi-currency” as well as dual-currency games. A carveout was also added for promotions offered by the state lottery commission and peer-to-peer poker games. The $100,000 fine for operators offering sweepstakes games still remains.
Another point of note is that HB 1052 only targets sweepstakes operators, rather than the whole supply chain (payment processors, affiliate media etc.) like many other recent anti-sweeps bills we’ve seen.
Regulation for Sweeps Casinos in Indiana Was Rejected
There were suggestions of sweepstakes regulation rather than a straight ban from Representative Steve Bartels. This was supported by the Social Gaming Leadership Alliance (SGLA), the prominent sweepstakes trade group.
SGLA Managing Director Sean Ostrow said in January:
“Rather than a ban that would criminalize law-abiding businesses while doing nothing to stop illegal operators, we believe sensible regulation is the pragmatic pathway forward.”
However, the regulation idea was ultimately rejected, and sweeps operators will now be watching Indiana with a close eye for any more news on the progress of HB 1052.
Almost all sweeps brands operate in Indiana – in fact, it’s one of the least restricted jurisdictions for the whole vertical.
The main ray of hope for operators will be the disagreement between the chambers on the new wording. At this point, a bill usually returns to the Senate to see if it can agree to the House’s position, and if it cannot reconcile, it might go to a conference committee. However, with the current Indiana session ending on February 27, time for reaching concurrence is ticking away.
That being said, if lawmakers can agree on wording, Indiana could become the first state to ban sweeps in 2026, with the bill containing an effective date of July 1, 2026.
The Hoosier State would join Montana, Connecticut, New Jersey, California, and New York who all banned the format in 2025.
Author: Alex Windsor
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