Indiana Rep. Alan Morrison has taken notice of America’s growing obsession with daily fantasy sport, and sports betting in general, and wants his state to get in on the action.
Morrison has introduced two bills, both aimed at getting Indiana in the game. The first, House Bill 1073, would allow sports betting at state casinos, racinos and parimutuel facilities. The second, House Bill 1074, would allow the racinos to offer fantasy sports games.
“Gaming is something that this state has become extremely reliant upon, that revenue,” Morrison said. “As it’s been trending down, it’s incumbent upon us to figure out how to fix it or to improve on what we have.”
Morrison believes Indiana can benefit from additional annual tax revenue of anywhere from $12 million to $70 million from sports betting.
In addition to opposition from those in his state that don’t want to become increasingly reliant on gambling for funding, Morrison will also face an uphill battle against various leagues, such as the NFL, MLB, NHL and the Indianapolis-based NCAA, which are fiercely against sports betting outside of Nevada.
Only the NBA has recently began to come around on gambling, with new commissioner Adam Silver stating that he’d be willing to push Congress to legalize sports betting.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed a sports betting bill for his state back in October, but a U.S. District Judge issued a permanent injunction to prevent gambling facilities from taking bets.
