PlayUp Deal for Indiana Online Casino Gaming

While the legal situation for online casino games in Indiana has not gotten better, PlayUp has situated itself to be ready if and when online casino games become legal in the state. PlayUp has made an agreement to get market access in the state of Indiana for their iGaming products should the online casino games be approved by the state. PlayUp currently has online casino and online poker games in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Connecticut, Michigan, Delaware, and New Jersey. PlayUp is also in Nevada but only provides online poker games. Through an agreement with Caesars, PlayUp has iGaming already set up in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Iowa. They also have sports betting available in Indiana and Iowa.

PlayUp’s Chairman in the United States, Dennis Drazin, said that the company has shown that they can achieve the market share necessary to stay relevant in a super competitive landscape of online sports betting in New Jersey. The goal for PlayUp is that once the state of Indiana legalizes online casino games, PlayUp will be brought into the iGaming market where there is projected to be substantial growth opportunities for PlayUp. This is not the first time that PlayUp has positioned itself to set up online casinos before legality. October 2021 saw PlayUp agreeing to a deal in the state of Iowa with Wild Rose Entertainment, which has casinos in Clinton, Emmetsburg, and Jefferson. Similar to Indiana, Iowa has yet to approve online casino games. When the day comes that it does become legal, PlayUp will be ready to provide its iGaming product to the state.

Legal Issues In The Hoosier State

It's not entirely clear how long PlayUp will be waiting for the online casino games to become legal in Indiana. The recent attempt to legalize online casino games in Indiana were through House Bills 1337 and 1356, both of which never made it out of the House Committee in 2022. The 1337 bill focuses on permit holders at racinos (racetracks with slot machines) and licensed owners of riverboat casinos to add online gaming to their products. Alan Morrison (R), a state representative in the 42nd District brought the legislation to the House. 

Bill 1356's focus was to have July 2022 be the starting date for the locations mentioned in Bill 1337 to offer the online casino product. The iDevelopment and Economic Association has estimated that a legal online casino product in Indiana would bring in around $500 million in revenue over a 5-year time period. The state also fell short to legalize online casino games in 2021.  Many believe that the bills fell short for a second time due to a lack of knowledge of the online casino product by the state’s lawmakers. When Indiana goes again in 2023, they hope that this is rectified. The bill in 2023 will look very similar to the first with the main points being: Indiana casinos can offer internet gaming as well as online poker, iGaming revenue is taxed at 18% with 3% to local governments, and 3.33% of tax revenue will go to the Addiction Services Fund.

About PlayUP

PlayUp has operations in India, New Zealand, and Australia. They are an Australian based company who also operates in the United States. They are currently in Colorado, New Jersey, and soon to be Indiana and Iowa. Daniel Simic, the global CEO for PlayUp, said that their main goal is one platform for customer access as the company offers horse racing, sports betting, online casino games, and daily fantasy sports.