Indiana’s retail sportsbooks enjoyed an impressive first month that has the state competitive with more established legal sports betting markets, according to PlayIndiana.com analysts.
Fuelled by retail sportsbooks most closely to the situated Chicago market, Indiana retail sportsbooks accepted $35.2m in bets in September, producing $8.6m in adjusted gross revenue for the sportsbooks, according to official reporting.
With Indiana’s 9.5 per cent tax, the state’s win (which does not include bets yet to be paid, such as a wager on the Colts to win the Super Bowl), injected $813,103 in tax revenue.
Dustin Gouker, lead analyst for PlayIndiana.com, said: “Indiana’s sportsbooks are in their infancy, but their ability to capitalize on the Chicago market did not take long to produce dividends.
“This is the largest handle we’ve seen in a state’s first month of legal sports betting, and it happened without the benefit of online sports betting, which didn’t launch until October. That is a testament to Indiana’s existing infrastructure.”
Indiana’s $35.2 million handle was more than the $25.8 million Pennsylvania’s retail sportsbooks generated in August, but less than the $44.4 million bet in-person in New Jersey.
More than half of all September bets in Indiana were on football, and neither Pennsylvania nor New Jersey had the benefit of the NFL in August. Both will likely significantly outpace Indiana in September.
Still, Indiana’s launch of online betting this month signals rapid growth. Nearly 80 per cent of all bets in New Jersey are made online, and Indiana will eventually take the majority of its bets online, too.
Kim Yuhl, analyst for PlayIndiana.com, said: “Indiana showed in its first month a familiar pattern where football betting is far and away the main driver in the industry. The ability to make online and mobile bets, though, should send the state’s handle into a new stratosphere.”
