Mobile Sports Betting in Indiana Likely Delayed

Sports betting at the brick and mortar casinos in Indiana is expected to launch the first week of football.  But if you are hoping to use your mobile devices to place bets with an in-state sportsbook at that time, you're going to be out of luck.  Only the offshore sportsbooks will be accessible from the state at that time.

“The timing of the launch is going to be dictated by the operators getting us the info we need to review and approve for launch,” Sara Gonso Tait, executive director of the Indiana Gaming Commission (IGC), told Legal Sports Report Thursday. “At this point, it’s too early to tell when that will be. There’s a checklist of items that need to be done before launch, and the timing is dictated on the operators getting us that required information.”

Tait said the IGC has yet to receive a request to launch online sports betting.

In addition to the geo-location requirements that must first be met to ensure those just over Indiana's border cannot place bets with in-state operators, mobile apps must now conform to Apple's new policy concerning gambling.

The new guidelines state the following:

“HTML5 games distributed in apps may not provide access to real money gaming, lotteries, or charitable donations, and may not support digital commerce. This functionality is only appropriate for code that’s embedded in the binary and can be reviewed by Apple. This guideline is now enforced for new apps. Existing apps must follow this guideline by September 3, 2019.”

In Pennsylvania, a state that just began launching its mobile sports wagering sites in recent weeks, companies have opted not to offer their products on iPhones for the time being.

Indiana is not taking any chances when it comes to mobile.  A good bet is that the sites will not be up and running until December of this year the absolute earliest.

“What we’ve heard from other jurisdictions is retail is a little bit easier to launch and it can fold into existing casino operations,” Tait said. “We’re pleased our operators so far have really focused on retail so that we can hopefully get those activities going as close to Sept. 1 as possible. We know Hoosiers are very excited to have access to mobile wagering, but we’re going to launch it responsibly.”

- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com