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Indiana’s latest attempt to legalize online lottery sales is over for the 2026 session after House sponsor Rep. Ethan Manning pulled HB 1078 from the House floor agenda and conceded the votes just weren’t there.
“It didn’t have enough support, really, from either caucus on the concept,” Manning told the Indiana Capital Chronicle, adding that the problem wasn’t fine print or a missing amendment. “It’s just the idea itself. We’re clearly not ready, as a Legislature, to move any further on any forms of online gambling.”
The bill would have created a state-run online lottery option
HB 1078 would have allowed the Hoosier Lottery to sell draw games and eInstant games online, with the minimum age set at 18. It also would have banned digital lottery couriers and required the state to create a voluntary iLottery exclusion program.
One amendment that did survive would have created a retailer incentive program tied to promoting digital lottery games and required annual review of whether online sales were cutting into retail lottery sales.
But after it cleared committee and made it to the floor calendar earlier this month, the proposal was yanked at the last minute, a quiet end to what supporters hoped would be a fast-track push in a short session.
Lottery officials have been arguing for years that online sales are about keeping up with how people buy everything else. In committee testimony earlier this month, the Hoosier Lottery said consumer habits have shifted to mobile-first purchases.
The iCasino fight resurfaced, and ran into a House rule wall
The politics around the bill also got messier once the conversation drifted toward online casino.
Manning had tried to keep HB 1078 focused on iLottery after last year’s version bundled iCasino language and ran into heavy resistance. This time, two lawmakers still tried to restore online casino provisions, arguing that casino-style play already exists in Indiana without state oversight or tax benefits.
Those efforts didn’t even get to a vote after they were ruled out of order under House rules on whether an amendment is relevant to the bill under debate.
That procedural block mattered because supporters of iCasino argue the product exists already in unregulated form, while opponents view it as a major expansion that changes the entire political math.
Manning pointed to the state’s sports betting experience as part of the problem
Indiana launched sports wagering early, in 2019, and Manning said some lawmakers don’t like the public-facing consequences especially the advertising.
“Sports wagering, having gone so early… I think that’s hurt our argument for further forms of online gaming, because a lot of members don’t like the impacts,” he said, referencing ads and visibility.
That matters because iLottery supporters often sell online lottery as the “less risky” digital option compared with casino. Although iLottery supporters say online lottery is “less risky”, inside the Statehouse, anything that smells like more online gambling tends to get lumped together.
So for 2026, nothing. Manning has said HB 1078 will not move forward this session.
Source: News From The States
