Hoosier Lottery chair ‘disappointed’ by General Assembly’s halt to online lottery

The chair of the Hoosier Lottery Commission said he fully respects but is “disappointed” that the legislature stopped the lottery from offering online gaming this year.

The chair made his first public comments on the matter at Wednesday’s commission meeting.

The Hoosier Lottery was well into plans to offer lottery games online earlier this year. And they informed legislative leaders of those plans.

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But after it was uncovered publicly by the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, other lawmakers raised concerns. And ultimately, the General Assembly passed a bill, HEA 1260, to require legislative approval before the lottery could expand online.

Commission Chair William Zielke said the lottery will work with lawmakers to pursue that approval.

“I don’t think we want to maintain the status quo here at the lottery,” Zielke said.

Zielke also noted that several other states have some form of iLottery, including all of Indiana’s surrounding states.

Contact reporter Brandon at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.