Indiana Lawmakers Try To Prevent Sex Trafficking During Super Bowl Festivities

An estimated 75,000 ticket holders will attend this year's Super Bowl and up to 50,000 more revelers are expected to arrive in Indianapolis for the week-long festivities leading up to the game. That's mostly good news for the city, but there is a downside-- many worry that there could be an increase in prostitution and human trafficking, including the child sex trade.

Indiana lawmakers are now taking measures to prevent sex trafficking and human exploitation — both of adults and children — during this year's Super Bowl.

Among the measures are a newly passed law that increases penalties and broadens the definition of sex trafficking, and a training programs for cab drivers and hotel workers to recognize illegal and dangerous situations.

During the 2010 Super Bowl in Miami, police recovered six children forced into sexual slavery.

Maggie Clark, reporter for Stateline also reports on Super Bowl 2011:

In the early morning hours of Super Bowl Sunday last year, Dallas police arrested Anthony Ladell Winn. They suspected Winn of forcing two sisters, ages 14 and 20, to travel from Austin to Dallas to work as prostitutes while thousands of football fans gathered for the big game. “There was big money to be made during the Super Bowl,” Winn said according to police documents obtained by the Dallas Morning News.

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels says he wants to prevent that kind of exploitation in his city.