Caesars’ entry boosts sports betting in Indiana

Caesars Entertainment, one of the premier gaming companies in the USA, has acquired Centaur Gaming, an Indianapolis-based company that owns several Indiana casino and racetrack facilities. The $1.7 billion purchase will allow Caesars to enter Indiana gaming market, where sports betting has already legalised.

Two of the well-known casinos in the state – Hoosier Park in Anderson and Indiana Grand in Shelbyville – apart from three off-track betting parlours have reached Caesars’ fold as part of the deal.

Caesars now owns more than 50 casinos and hotels worldwide, including two more of Indiana’s 13 casinos. The Nevada-based company already owned the Horseshoe Hammond and the Horseshoe Southern Indiana. Now Caesars owns four total casinos in Indiana, but the purchase of the last two was not without controversy.

Indiana law dictates a $50 million transfer fee to the state government for casino purchases, a charge both Centaur and Caesars disputed. Caesars even went so far as to threaten to stop a $90 million expansion project on its Horseshoe Southern Indiana facility.

In approving the purchase, the Indiana Gaming Commission fined Caesars $1 million for the threat, which never came to fruition. The Indianapolis Star reported the companies will not avoid the fee and the state expects to receive its $50 million as part of the transfer.

With the purchase finalised, the state’s gambling interests turn to when, or if, the state legislature will legalise sports betting.

Indiana Lawmakers Look to Debate Sports Betting

Legislation introduced in Indiana’s 2018 session in Indianapolis gives the state a head start for the 2019 session, the earliest lawmakers would likely discuss any sports betting bill. But the initial bills picked up little momentum in the statehouse last year and legislatures seemed divided on many of the same issues other states have wrangled with – assuming there’s political capital to pass a bill at all.

According to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, lawmakers still have to discuss permitted wagering locations, tax rates, mobile accessibility and revenue distribution. There’s also concerns about bets on amateur events, which is complicated by the NCAA. The organisation is headquartered in Indianapolis and was the primary defendant in the Supreme Court case that ultimately struck down the federal ban on sports betting.

If lawmakers pass a final bill through both houses, it will also need the approval from Gov. Eric Holcomb. The Journal Gazette reported the governor previously declined to comment on the prospects of approving a sports betting bill, saying it wasn’t a priority.

Still, lawmakers have viewed it as more of a priority than the governor and are undertaking a study of sports gambling’s’ impact on the state. Multiple lawmakers said they will file bills in time for the 2019 session where it will likely gain more traction than in 2018.

Out-Of-State Developments Could Spur Action

The progress and templates set by early sports betting adaptors could not only spur action but lay out a framework in Indiana.

Along with Nevada’s long-standing sports betting legalisation, Delaware, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Mississippi and West Virginia have all approved sports wagering and all will have taken bets before the end of the year. Several other states, notably Pennsylvania and New York, are working towards a system to take sports bets as well.

They’re far from alone. Several midwestern states, including neighbouring Illinois, have discussed sports betting at length and appear at the very least open to gambling expansion.

Kentucky, Indiana’s southern neighbour, has also made strides towards sports betting. A bipartisan group of lawmakers from both Bluegrass State legislative bodies have formed a bill that lays out their solution to many of the sports betting questions debated by their colleagues on the north side of the Ohio River.

Developments by Indiana’s neighbouring states combined with the increased presence of Caesars, a gambling industry leader long accustomed to handling wagers on sports, could sooner than later help push sports betting in the Hoosier State forward.

Source: gambling.com