Indiana Sweepstakes Laws: $100,000 Per Violation, Inside an Act About Something Else

Indiana’s sweepstakes prohibition took effect on 1 July 2026. It is a single section of an omnibus administrative-law act that otherwise concerns horse racing, alcohol permits and tobacco, and it reaches the model through a four-limb definition carrying a $100,000 civil penalty.

The prohibition is one section of an act about something else

HB 1052 is titled “Various administrative law matters”. Its digest opens on the horse racing commission’s licensing powers and runs on through alcohol permits, tobacco certificates and surety bonds. The sweepstakes prohibition is SECTION 15 of the enrolled act — one new section, IC 4-33-10-7, added to the chapter that governs Indiana’s gaming commission. It was signed on 12 March 2026 as Public Law 153 and took effect on 1 July 2026.

That matters for anyone tracking this by bill title. Indiana did not pass a sweepstakes bill. It added a sweepstakes definition to an omnibus administrative-law act, which is a harder thing to find and an easier thing to miss.

The definition has four limbs, and all four must be met

IC 4-33-10-7(a) defines a “sweepstakes game” as a game, contest or promotion that is available on the internet; is accessible on a mobile phone, computer terminal or similar access device; utilises a dual-currency or multi-currency system of payment allowing a player to exchange currency for a cash prize, a cash award or cash equivalents, or for a chance to win one; and simulates lottery games or casino-style gaming, including slot machines, video poker, table games, bingo or sports wagering.

The limbs are conjunctive — the statute joins the third to the fourth with “and” — so a game outside any one of them is outside the definition. Two carve-outs sit at the end of the subsection: games offered by the state lottery commission, and peer-to-peer skill-based poker.

Penalty structure

Civil penalties reach $100,000 per violation. Where “per violation” is read per-player or per-transaction rather than per-platform, the arithmetic stops being survivable — that construction question is unresolved and is the single largest unquantified exposure in the statute.

The penalty runs against an operator or individual who knowingly uses the internet to conduct a sweepstakes game in Indiana, or in a transaction directly involving a person located in Indiana. The second limb is the long arm: an operator outside the state is reached by a single transaction with someone inside it.

Can you still play a sweepstakes casino in Indiana?

Not one that matches the definition. Indiana’s prohibition took effect on 1 July 2026 and it is drafted at the model directly — a game on the internet, reachable from a phone or computer, running a dual-currency system that lets a player exchange currency for a cash prize or a chance at one, and simulating lottery or casino-style play. An operator running that is exposed to a $100,000 civil penalty per violation.

The limbs are conjunctive, which is where the argument will be. A platform outside any one of them is outside the definition, and the third limb — currency exchanged for a cash prize or for a chance at one — is the one that describes the purchase-and-redeem model rather than the games themselves. Nobody has litigated where its edge falls.

The reach is wide. The penalty attaches to conduct in Indiana or to a transaction directly involving a person located in Indiana, so an operator outside the state is caught by a single Indiana player. As everywhere on this tracker, a site being reachable from an Indiana address is not evidence that it is lawful there.

Sources

• Verified Indiana General Assembly, HB 1052 (2026), enrolled act — enacted as Public Law 153 and signed 12 March 2026. SECTION 15 adds IC 4-33-10-7 effective 1 July 2026, carrying the four-limb definition, the two carve-outs and the $100,000 civil penalty. Read in full from the enrolled PDF, 7 September 2026; every quoted phrase on this page is from it.
• Verified Indiana General Assembly, HB 1052 bill details and amendment record — read 7 September 2026. House amendments 1–6, of which only #6 failed; Senate amendments 1–3, of which only #2 passed; no committee amendments. The single failed amendment (House Motion MO105206, Rep. Burton) moved to delete page 13, lines 4–28 of the 27 January 2026 print — which is IC 7.1-3-1-18, publication of alcoholic-beverage permit notices — and concerned neither sweepstakes nor licensing.
• Probable Construction of “per violation” untested — no reported Indiana enforcement action found as of 7 September 2026. The Indiana Gaming Commission publishes no enforcement notice naming a sweepstakes operator; an absence cannot be verified from a single document.

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Last verified: 2026-09-07 · status row last checked 2026-07-30. Flickloot corrects tracker pages in the same week a status changes. This page is a compliance reference, not legal advice.