Bookies in Indiana: Notre Dame, Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, More

Bookies are plentiful throughout the state of Indiana especially with Notre Dame playing so well this season to start things off.  But beware, the state’s gambling enforcers have been on a crusade in recent years.

“I’m very pleased,” said Ernest Yelton, executive director of the Indiana Gaming Commission back in 2011, the apparent peak of bookie hunting season. “We have been more active in enforcing the criminal gambling statutes than in the past.”

Prior to 2007, Indiana’s police were placed in charge of going after local bookies, not exactly a “to-do” atop the priority list.

Local bookies have sought the services of offshore Pay Per Head ventures like BigRedPPH.com as a result of the crackdown.  While offshore PPH businesses do handle all of the bet taking and record keeping in a legal environment, the local bookies are still responsible for paying out clients as well as collecting on lost bets.

Indiana state law does make it clear that bookmaking and the running of a wire room/call center within the state itself is considered a felony. 

- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com