Indiana Sports Wagering Licensing and Tax Law

IC 4-38-4-4 is the operative grant of authority: once the Gaming Commission receives a certificate-of-authority application and its required fee under IC 4-38-4-3 and approves that application, the commission 'shall issue a certificate of authority to a licensed owner, an operating agent, or a permit holder authorizing [that party] to conduct sports wagering under this article in a designated licensed facility.' Those three license categories map onto Indiana's existing gaming operators, licensed owners run the state's riverboat casinos under IC 4-33, operating agents run racinos, and permit holders run IC 4-31-5.5 satellite off-track betting facilities, and Indiana issues no stand-alone online-only sportsbook license. The commission began accepting applications July 1, 2019 under IC 4-38-4-2, and certificate holders have been authorized to take wagers since September 1, 2019 under IC 4-38-4-1.

A certificate holder can't run mobile betting by itself. It must contract with a vendor that holds its own license under IC 4-38-6-1, which costs a separate nonrefundable $100,000 application fee (IC 4-38-6-3). Under IC 4-38-5-12, a certificate holder or vendor may accept a mobile-device wager only after the patron, who must be physically inside Indiana, a location the law enforces through the 'geofence' defined at IC 4-38-2-8, registers as a mobile device user, either in person at the licensed facility or online through a commission-approved app or platform. IC 4-38-5-3 bars anyone under 21 from the area where wagering is conducted, though an 18-to-20-year-old employee may work there as long as they don't handle patron wagers.

Indiana taxes a certificate holder's adjusted gross sports-wagering receipts at 9.5%, due to the Department of Revenue by the 24th of each month (IC 4-38-10-1, IC 4-38-10-2). Of that revenue, 3.33% is diverted to the state's addiction services fund, and a quarter of that transfer is earmarked specifically for compulsive-gambling prevention, education, provider credentialing, and treatment (IC 4-38-10-3). The commission can investigate any alleged Article 38 violation and suspend or revoke a certificate or vendor's license at any time (IC 4-38-1-4).

The Gaming Commission investigates alleged Article 38 violations and can suspend or revoke a certificate holder's or vendor's authority at any time (IC 4-38-1-4). Letting anyone under 21 into a licensed facility's wagering area breaks IC 4-38-5-3: the only exception is an 18-to-20-year-old employee, who still can't handle a patron's wager. A vendor taking bets without the license IC 4-38-6-1 requires has no lawful basis to operate on a certificate holder's behalf.