News In Brief: January 13-January 17, 2025

After lawmakers took a break from considering gaming legislation last year, a new bill that would legalize online casino games in Indiana was filed on Wednesday (January 15).

House Bill 1432, authored by Republican Representative Ethan Manning, would allow licensed riverboats and racetracks to offer internet gaming, including poker. Under the proposed bill, Indiana would tax iGaming between 22 percent and 30 percent.

An iGaming license would cost $500,000 with a $50,000 annual renewal fee. Manning’s bill would also authorize the Indiana Lottery to sell draw games and instant games online, along with regulating lottery courier services in the state.

HB 1432 also establishes a problem gambling program that would be developed and administered by the Indiana Gaming Commission, with a $250,000 annual fee paid by each of the seven riverboat casinos. 

The first reading of HB 1432 is scheduled for Tuesday (January 21) before being referred to the House Committee on Public Policy for their consideration. 

Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) member Brittnie Watkins said during Wednesday’s (January 15) meeting that it was her last for the state agency. 

Watkins, whose term expires on January 26, was appointed to the NGCB in 2021 by former Democratic Governor Steve Sisolak. Watkins did not say if she sought reappointment to a second four-year term from Republican Governor Joe Lombardo. 

The Nevada Independent reported that Lombardo had informed Watkins that she would not be reappointed. 

“I am honored to have served in this position,” Watkins said. “The opportunity to see the gaming industry from this perspective has been absolutely priceless.”

Lombardo is expected to appoint a replacement in a few weeks. 

In January 2023, Lombardo appointed Kirk Hendrick as chairman and former Judge George Assad as board member. Both Hendrick and Assad have two years left in their terms. 

The Victoria state gambling regulator has fined on-course and online horse and greyhound racing bookmaker VicBet A$130,000 ($81,000) for soliciting business from customers who tried to close an online account or self-excluded.

The Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC) said in a statement on Thursday (January 16) that it had fined VicBet A$80,000 after the company “repeatedly sent gambling promotional material” to a former customer who permanently self-excluded from the bookmaker in March 2020.

It also fined VicBet A$50,000 because it “offered and provided” a A$1,800 bonus bet to a customer who had asked to close his/her account in September 2022.

It was not immediately clear how recently VicBet engaged with the customers.

“It is an egregious betrayal of trust … to continue to send marketing materials to a person who has self-excluded from a gambling venue or closed a betting account,” VGCCC chief executive Annette Kimmitt said.

The VGCCC said VicBet was given a chance to show cause why it should not be punished over the incidents, and that company legal representations were considered before the fine was issued.

The fine adds to a growing list of licensees across all industry segments that have been punished by the VGCCC, Australia’s most active gambling regulator, for violations of the law or of codes of conduct.

India’s financial transactions regulator and money laundering watchdog can now issue direct take-down orders for real-money gaming websites and apps that it suspects of evading the goods and services tax (GST).

In a gazette notice on January 6, the central government authorised the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) to discontinue requests for block orders through the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, instead allowing it to directly intervene against offending companies.

The gazette notification also created an “additional/joint director (intelligence)” to coordinate direct intervention against the online and app footprints of India-based and foreign-based companies.

The move comes as the Supreme Court of India prepares for final hearings in March on the validity of the GST on real-money gaming, including online skill games, land-based casinos and horseracing, which has badly shaken the industry.

With only 584,057 residents Wyoming may be the smallest state by population in the U.S. but has legalized a wide range of gaming activities from online sports betting to horseracing and historic horseracing machines, as well as skill-games and three tribal casinos. 

On Tuesday (January 14), Republican state Representative Bob Davis introduced House Bill 162 to legalize internet casino games. Under the bill, the Wyoming Gaming Commission (WGC) would license and regulate iGaming, its operators and vendors.

Davis proposed a 16 percent tax on iGaming revenue, with a fee of $100,000 for an initial five-year license, and a renewal cost of $50,000. The bill would allow the three tribal casinos to amend their individual gaming compacts to offer iGaming on tribal lands.

The WGC would also be able to consider those companies licensed to operate mobile sports betting “fully qualified to hold an (iGaming) permit without additional investigation.” Currently, HB 162 has not been referred to a legislative committee.

Should the bill pass this session, the commission would have until December 31 to promulgate rules to allow for iGaming. A fiscal note, published on Tuesday, estimated tax revenue of $7.38m for fiscal year 2026, increasing to $23.86m in fiscal year 2028.

Wyoming is the third state so far in early 2025 that will debate an iGaming bill, following legislation introduced in Maryland and Virginia.

A new National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) survey of gambling behaviors of more than 20,000 U.S. student athletes found a slight decline in the number of those gambling legally or illegally.

In 2016, even though sports betting was only legal in any form in a few states, 24 percent of student-athletes on men's teams reported violating NCAA bylaws within the previous year by betting on sports (legally or illegally) one or more times for money. 

By the end of 2024, 38 states offered legal and operational sports betting, yet only 22 percent of NCAA men reported betting (legally or illegally) on sports at least once in the prior 12 months. About 5 percent of NCAA women's sport participants in both 2016 and 2024 reported betting on sports at least once in the prior year, according to the NCAA study.

“We need to continue to focus on education and additional harm prevention techniques in this space," NCAA president Charlie Baker said in a statement Tuesday (January 14). “Most young people are exposed to gambling while they're in high school, and by the time they graduate college, some develop an unhealthy relationship with betting.” 

Both men and women view gambling as a social activity, with 85 percent of men and 95 percent of women saying they are most likely to gamble with family, a romantic partner, teammates or friends outside sports.

A bill filed in the Maine Senate would implement a total ban on proposition betting in daily fantasy sports contests offered by several operators in the state.

Senate Bill 33 was introduced by state Senator Craig Hickman and referred to the Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs, which he chairs. The three-page bill makes it clear that a “Fantasy contest may not be based on a proposition bet or a contest that has the effect of mimicking a proposition bet”.

“Proposition bet means a wager made regarding the occurrence or nonoccurrence of an event or circumstance during a sports event that is not dependent on the final outcome of the sports event, including a contest in which a contestant must choose, directly or indirectly, whether an individual athlete or a single team will surpass an identified statistical achievement, such as points scored,” according to the bill.

The bill updates the definition of “fantasy contest” to mean a contest in which six or more contestants pay an entry fee to participate. Hickman also proposes to double both the initial and renewal fees for a fantasy sports operator license to $5,000 and repeal provisions of existing law allowing an operator to operate a fantasy contest while a license is pending.

Nebraska is the latest sports-betting state to consider lifting its ban on wagering on in-state college sports.

Republican state Senator Tom Brandt has introduced Legislative Bill 63 that simply repeals the prohibition from the state’s sports-betting law. The bill has been referred to the General Affairs Committee for its consideration.

Sports betting was approved in Nebraska in 2021, following a voter referendum approved in 2020. Currently, Nebraska only allows sports betting in land-based casinos, while online and mobile sports betting is not legal.

Last year, Assemblyman Michael Venezia, a Democrat, introduced Assembly Concurrent Resolution 140 to amend New Jersey’s constitution to allow wagering “on all college sport or athletic events.” 

The resolution would apply to all operators that have been licensed through partnerships with casinos and current or former racetracks. New Jersey law prohibits sportsbooks from offering odds and taking bets on in-state schools, including Rutgers and Seton Hall. 

Meanwhile, Senate Bill 124, which was carried over from last year’s General Assembly session, would permit betting on Virginia college sports. Under current law, betting other than proposition betting is allowed on all college sports except Virginia college sports.

Penn Entertainment has announced a market-access partnership with the owner of the NHL’s Washington Capitals and NBA’s Washington Wizards in order to launch its ESPN Bet mobile sportsbook in the District of Columbia.

The partnership will also will see ESPN Bet and Penn’s Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races in West Virginia become marketing partners of the two teams and Washington Mystics of the WNBA, which also is owned by Monumental Sports & Entertainment.

The agreement announced on Monday (January 13) comes some six months after the liberalization of the District of Columbia sports-betting market through provisions in the city’s annual budget law.

That law ended the DC Lottery’s monopoly over mobile sports betting and enabled commercial brands to access the market, subject to a partnership with either a local sports arena or professional sports team.  

In addition to ESPN Bet and Monumental, DraftKings has entered the DC market via a partnership with Major League Soccer’s DC United, while Fanatics has partnered with the Washington Spirit of the National Women’s Soccer League.

The Supreme Court of India on Friday (January 10) suspended government collection of a 28 percent goods and services tax (GST) from online gaming companies until it issues a ruling on the legality of the tax.

The ruling, which also consolidated numerous gaming company complaints against the GST, provides instant relief to gaming companies struggling under massive tax burdens and focuses attention on the next court hearing on March 18.

The court is likely to determine, along with wider constitutional matters, whether the central and regional governments’ selection of the full 28 percent rate is proper, and whether that rate should apply to initial customer deposit (initial volume) or to the much smaller figure of operator net revenue.

It may also rule on the de facto retroactivity of the tax, which has been applied to some companies to the tune of billions of dollars.

The case has massive implications for the industry, which has struggled to adapt to the decision by the GST Council — a mix of central and regional government delegates — to charge the highest rate and to tax initial volume instead of revenue.