Indiana sportsbooks shattered the state record for betting volume for the second consecutive month by handling more than $460m in October.

The surge in betting, brought on in part by the year’s first full month of football, also made Indiana just the fifth state to reach $5bn in lifetime sports wagers, according to PlayIndiana, which tracks the state’s gaming industry.
“Five full weekends of the NFL and college football, the opening of the NBA season and baseball’s postseason gave sportsbooks a rare convergence of betting inventory in October,” said Jake Garza, an analyst for PlayIndiana.com.
“To surpass the previous record by so much shows an increasing base of bettors, too. It’s hard to imagine a better start to the football season than what has happened in the last two months.”