Indiana Sports Betting Handle Sets New Record, Tops $500M in January

Posted on: February 13, 2022, 02:47h. 

Last updated on: July 26, 2022, 11:48h.

Steve Bittenbender Read More
Expertise: Legislation, Sports Betting, Horse Racing.

Indiana sportsbooks set another record in January, as they broke the $500 million handle barrier for the first time.

Purdue Pete
Purdue Pete, the mascot for Purdue University in Indiana, with his trusty sledgehammer. According to data from the Indiana Gaming Commission, the state’s sportsbooks smashed the record handle last month when they took more than $500 million in wagers. (Image: Eric Francis/Getty)

The Indiana Gaming Commission (IGC) reported the state’s mobile operators and brick-and-mortar sites took $500.1 million in bets. That broke the previous record, set in November, by $36.4 million.

Football, thanks to the extra week in the NFL regular season and the expanded postseason, definitely helped boost the total. However, Indiana takes its basketball pretty seriously, too. IGC data shows that bettors placed $192.4 million worth of bets on pro and college hoops, compared to $118.3 million on football.

Parlay bets accounted for $122.6 million in wagers.

Sportsbooks reported taxable adjusted gross revenues (AGR) of $35.6 million. Indiana taxes sportsbook revenue at 9.5 percent, meaning the state received $3.4 million for the month.

For the fiscal year, which began in July, Indiana has reported a handle of $2.63 billion. Sportsbooks have earned adjusted revenues totaling $204.6 million, while the state has received $19.4 million in taxes.

Mobile Continues to Dominate Indiana Market

Data from IGC shows that 93 percent of the handle – $465.1 million – was wagered through online apps.

DraftKings continues to be the biggest operator in terms of handle, as it accepted $159.8 million in wagers for January. It took in revenues of $9.5 million. FanDuel reported an online handle of $126.4 million, with revenues of $7.6 million.

Caesars Sportsbook took a total of $73 million in wagers, with $54.9 million of that coming online. Its total AGR was $3.9 million, with $1.4 million won online. BetMGM reported a handle of $5.2 million and an AGR of $5 million.

Indiana’s casinos reported a combined taxable AGR of $174.1 million for January. Once again, Hard Rock Northern Indiana reported the largest AGR, with the Gary casino winning $28.6 million for the month. Horseshoe Hammond won $26.2 million.

The state received $50.2 million in wagering taxes from the casinos in January and $3.8 million in supplemental taxes.

New Sports Betting App Coming This Month?

Currently, Indiana has 13 licensed mobile sports betting operators. Each casino in the state is allowed to partner with three skins. That means there could be as many as 39 operators eventually.

The next app to launch apparently will be SBK, a sportsbook operated by British-based Smarkets. Information from the IGC shows SBK will receive its authorization to launch its mobile app on Feb. 28. Indiana would be the second state for SBK. Currently, the app is available for wagering in Colorado.

SBK will serve as a skin for the Rising Star Casino & Resort in Rising Sun.

Hard Rock Northern Indiana is the only casino among the 12 currently operating that does not have a sportsbook. The IGC did issue a temporary vendor license to Hard Rock for retail and online operations last month.

Indiana’s 13th casino will be the Queen of Terre Haute, owned and operated by Churchill Downs Inc. There is no timetable yet for construction on the $240 million development. But the Louisville-based company has applied for a zoning change on land in the west central Indiana city, and officials are expected to take up the request next month.