Indiana Joins States Eyeballing Legal Sports Betting

Lawmakers in Indiana are getting on board the sports betting bandwagon and are quietly preparing for a positive decision from the US Supreme Court on the matter.
According to reports from LegalSportsReport and the Indiana News & Observer, Republican Representative Alan Morrison of Terra Haute is ready to introduce legislation that would bring sports betting to Indiana, despite some heavy opposition. Indiana is, it turns out, the home of one of the sports betting industry’s greatest foes, the NCAA.
In an interview with the News and Observer, Morrison addressed the 500-pound gorilla that sits in the room when Indiana lawmakers discuss this contentious issue saying:
I understand where they’ll be coming from. But it’s also important for the NCAA to understand that the landscape of gaming is changing throughout our country. I think they would hopefully have some understanding that Indiana would have rights just like the other states.
The NCAA, other groups representing sports leagues, have been adamant in their opposition to regulated sports betting in the United States. The leagues have attempted to hold back the tide of regulated sports betting by threatening to not stage events in states that do offer sports betting. (Though that threat gets emptier every time the Las Vegas Golden Knights take the ice in the NHL.)
It’s clear that the tide is turning when states like Indiana, which doesn’t have a particularly large footprint in the gaming industry, are considering offering sports betting. After all, if 48 US States offer regulated sports betting, the leagues won’t have anybody to really threaten.
The US Supreme Court is expected to release its ruling on sports betting some time in June.