Indiana state Senator Jon Ford, who has been at the forefront of his legislature’s failed attempts the past three years to legalize online gaming, hinted at a different approach next year at the recent meeting of the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States (NCLGS).
Speaking at the Denver conference, Ford, who also is president of the NCLGS, said Indiana iGaming proponents may fold online gaming into a larger “gaming modernization” bill in 2024. “In ’24, I think you’ll see probably more of an overall type of bill,” said Ford, according to the Play USA news site. “A modernization of gaming will probably be the approach that we take.”
According to Ford, in addition to iGaming, the bill would improve funding for responsible gaming measures, increase athlete protections from sports betting, restrict sports betting advertising, and authorize moving poor-performing brick-and-mortar casinos to better locations. This is a follow-on to the state’s successful sport betting legislation in 2019, which permitted two riverboat casinos to move inland.
“If you’re not growing, you’re dying,” Ford said. “So we’ve got to continue to modernize the gaming industry from Indiana’s perspective.”
