Indiana, otherwise known as the Hoosier state, was quick off the mark to accept sports betting once the decision was handed down from a federal to a state level.
This part of America is full of sports fans, so allowing them to make bets on the sports they loved was seen as positive for their individual freedoms and the financial health of the state.
In the first year after the law was changed, the people of Indiana wagered over $1 billion, and this figure has remained steady since, indicating a strong desire for sports betting products that is growing albeit slowly.
MLS fans don’t have a team of their own to bet on, not yet anyway, but there is plenty of other soccer in the state, and not one but two MLS clubs based very close to the border with Illinois and Ohio.
Indiana Legalized Sports Betting in 2019
Along with most other states in the country, Indiana quickly moved to legalize sports betting once the Supreme Court ruled that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 was unconstitutional.
In plain English, the act made sports betting illegal almost everywhere in the country, but it was overturned in 2018. This meant that all states could decide for themselves if they wanted to make betting on sports like MLS to be legal.
Indiana was the 13th state to legalize sports betting, but if you exclude Nevada where it had been legal all along, Indiana would be 12th.
There was very little push back when officials moved to legalize betting, so the process went smoothly. The HB105 bill was signed by the state governor in May 2019, with the first brick and mortar bookmaker opening for business in September, and the first online sportsbook accepting customers from October.
Before the law change, Indiana had been well known for horse racing since both Hoosier Park and Indiana Downs were located there. Betting on the horses was allowed at the tracks themselves and at a few specific off-track betting parlours, but wider sports betting was not legal.
Casino gaming was another matter, with machines dotted all over the state and a large number of riverboat casinos doing good trade since the early 1990s.
What are the Rules on Betting?
Although online betting is legal here, online sportsbooks must have a partnership with an in-state casino in order to operate. They can offer odds on all professional and collegiate sport, but high school and other amateur events are off the table.
Interestingly though, esports is not included as a professional sports so betting on esports is still illegal.
A betting license costs $50,000 and a tax rate of 9.5% is applied to any business offering sportsbook services. There is no specific purpose for this money, it is just added to the pot and spent across the state as a whole.
Like everywhere else in the US, anyone making a bet on MLS must be at least 21 years of age and be within state lines at the time the bet is made. They do not have to be a resident of Indiana though.
Bets can be made at licensed retail outlets and with online sportsbooks, of which there are plenty operating in the state, so sports betting is an accessible hobby to Hoosiers.
MLS Teams in Indiana
While there is no MLS team based in the Hoosier State at the time of writing, the mayor of Indianapolis announced in 2024 that the city was in the market for an MLS team, so it looks like an expansion bid my be on the way.
At the moment, the biggest soccer club in Indiana is Indy Eleven, who play in the USL Championship. It’s possible they could jump across to the more famous league, although they have tried and failed in the past, so maybe a brand new team will be created.
The closest existing Major League Soccer team to Indiana state lines is Chicago Fire, in Illinois, which isn’t far at all for anyone living in the North of the state. In fact, although Chicago is officially in Illinois, the Greater Chicago area has expanded so much that a huge chunk of it is actually in Indiana.
That would make the connection with Chicago Fire a sensible one for MLS fans in Illinois.
That said, those down South will be much closer to FC Cincinnati, based in Ohio. The club are also very close to state lines, with a quick trip down Route 74 taking you from one state to the other. Most towns in the South East of Indiana could get to FC Cincinnati’s stadium in about an hour.
Indiana is well known as a sport loving state though, so there are doubtless thousands of MLS fans living there. Whoever they support, a large number will also want to place bets on their teams, and they can do that.