Earlier this week, the Indiana Gaming Commission (IGC) released its proposed sports betting regulations.
With the release of the regulations, the IGC has launched a public consultation period. This means that stakeholders and members of the public can submit their comments on the proposed guidelines up until 1 August 2019.
The IGC is set to hold a meeting on 28 August, where it will likely discuss the regulations and go ahead with implementation.
Once the public consultation period is up, Indiana could launch sports betting operations as early as 1 September 2019.
No betting at sports games
Under the proposed regulations, the IGC could block mobile wagers from being placed at sports venues.
According to the regulations, a professional sports leagues or the NCAA, which is headquartered in the state, could request to create a temporary zone where sports betting is blocked using geolocation technology.
Although lawmakers didn’t allocate the leagues an integrity fee or mandate the use of official use of league data, this proposal could grant the sports leagues a certain level of control over sports betting in Indiana.
The regulator will only consider requests if the league provides information that indicates a credible threat to the integrity of a sporting event that the league can’t control and there must be no other way to mitigate the threat. On top of this, a licensed geofencing service provider must confirm that a geofence prohibiting wagers has been implemented.
It will ultimately be up to the regulator to grant a league’s request. The IGC will consult with an independent monitoring provider and other jurisdictions with sports betting.
What else is included in the regulations
The rest of the regulations essentially formalize the provisions laid out in the state’s sports betting legislation.
Operators and vendors are required to pay a non-refundable application fee of $100,000, which will drop to $10,000 for sports betting providers.
Once the regulator receives an application fee and a proposal for sports betting, it can grant a temporary sports wagering license.
Betting sites will be required to display responsible gambling information, with links to problem gambling help sites, helpline information and self-exclusion options.
All sports betting license applicants will be required to hold a cash reserve of at least $500,000 and must partner with an integrity monitoring provider who will be responsible for sharing information on unusual activity with the licenses.
Elsewhere in the US, Illinois legalized sports betting after the state’s governor signed a gambling expansion package into law.
