Indiana’s new online casino bill is increasing the money it would divert to fight problem gambling. The latest version of the bill would send 10% of the potential tax revenue to the state’s addiction services fund.
If Indiana online casinos become legal, then the industry will be incredibly profitable for both gambling companies and the state of Indiana. The tax revenue could potentially create millions of additional dollars to fight problem gambling every year.
Current bill increases problem gambling funding
Indiana lawmakers are currently trying to legalize internet casinos with a new bill. However, this isn’t the first time that an online casino bill has tried to make its way through the statehouse.
Previous attempts took place back in 2022 and 2021, although things didn’t ultimately pick up much steam. Each of those bills planned to send 3.33% of the tax money from online casinos to fight problem gambling. For the sake of comparison, that’s the same percentage of the tax money from Indiana sports betting that goes to the state’s addiction services fund.
In other words, the latest bill’s 10% rate of problem gambling funding is a massive increase from previous years.
Internet casino gaming could generate nearly $1 billion of revenue every year in Indiana, so 10% of the tax money from that revenue is a huge piece of the pie.
The latest version of the bill plans to tax online casino revenue at 20%, which could create up to $200 million worth of taxes for the state annually. 10% of that haul would amount to about $20 million every year. That would make Indiana one of of the most well-funded states in the country when it comes to fighting problem gambling.
How Indiana would compare to other states
As far as problem gambling funding goes, 10% is a very high rate for an online casino state. That would put Indiana ahead of the pack by a large margin.
Take Michigan as an example. Indiana’s northern neighbor has had legal online casinos for over two years now. Despite that, the Wolverine State only sends $500,000 of taxes from its internet casinos to the state’s compulsive gaming prevention fund every year.
Pennsylvania is in a similar spot. The state sends .002 times its gross interactive gaming revenue to its own fund each year. That amounted to $6.8 million during the last fiscal year.
Both are a drastically lower amount compared to the potential $20 million of funding that Indiana’s industry could create annually.
Responsible gambling practices are incredibly important, and the more safeguards the better. Of course, the final percent of the money that heads to the fund is still subject to change. Things could still shift in one way or another as the bill tries to navigate the legislature.
At the very least, sending 10% of the tax money to fight problem gambling shows that Indiana lawmakers are taking this seriously. If that percentage stays the same for the state’s online casino bill, then Indiana will immediately become a national leader in problem gambling funding.
