With $70 Million In July, Indiana’s Lifetime Sports Betting Handle Surpasses $1 Billion

Sports betting handle in Indiana has surpassed $1 billion in its lifetime.

In July, Indiana achieved a significant stride in the right direction by generating $70 million in wagers.

The state’s production being below the $30 million mark in June makes the doubled production in July quite promising.

Sports betting figures for Indiana in July 2020

A glance at the sports betting figures for Indiana in July 2020:

Licensee	Online Brand(s)	Total Handle	Online Handle	Retail Handle	Gross Revenue	State Tax
Ameristar East Chicago	DraftKings | theScore	$34,022,029	$32,863,948	$1,158,081	$2,438,361	$291,923
Blue Chip	FanDuel	$24,468,974	$24,222,577	$246,397	$1,177,635	$239,430
Hollywood Lawrenceburg	PointsBet	$3,789,448	$1,103,867	$2,685,581	$535,307	$43,392
Belterra	BetMGM	$3,647,366	$3,522,336	$125,030	$423,888	$39,033
French Lick	BetRivers	$2,702,634	$2,668,898	$33,736	$199,349	$18,776
Horseshoe Hammond	Caesars | Unibet	$903,626	$145,997	$757,628	$42,066	$0
Caesars Southern Indiana		$420,658	$0	$420,658	$41,790	$0
Harrah’s Hoosier Park		$324,042	$0	$324,042	$79,755	$0
Tropicana Evansville		$292,118	$0	$292,118	-$74,479	$0
Indiana Grand		$234,605	$0	$234,605	$20,980	$12,024
Rising Star	BetAmerica	$71,123	$18,297	$52,826	$862	$0
Total		$70,876,622	$64,545,922	$6,330,700	$4,885,514	$644,578

Progress towards $1 billion handle is slowed by pandemic

The progress toward the $1 billion mark has been slow due to COVID-19.

Indiana’s handle was projected to easily surpass its initial billion this spring. If things continued at that pace, it would’ve been a sure thing.

Indiana received over $187 million in bets just in February, and at that pace, it won’t take long to reach a billion.

However, when the health crisis turned everything upside down, that progress came to a standstill. Following are the insights from the months of pandemic that ensued:

• March: $74 million
• April: $26 million
• May: $37 million
• June: $29 million

The total handles from those four months amount to approximately $168.2 million.

Simply put, the total betting amount from March to June was not even as high as a usual month’s betting total. The $168 million was still almost $20 million less than what was made in February.

In normal conditions, the revenue from sports betting in Indiana could have surpassed $1 billion in April.

Every state, including Indiana, has missed big potential opportunities due to the situation.

The Hoosier State has missed out on potential wagers exceeding $700 million since March. Despite the previous month’s handle of $70 million, the usual July figures for the state would probably have been at least $90 million more.

Since the onset of the pandemic, the state has lost approximately $3.5 million in tax revenue.

Despite the previous few dry months, the market is at last beginning to recover. The resurgence of major sports evidently has a significant impact on this.

Betting on NBA, MLB, and NHL takes the lead.

After coming to a standstill in March, sports have finally resumed.

MLB was the first major sports league to resume action. The opening day was on July 23, and since then, the sport has been accumulating bets in Indiana.

In July, Hoosiers wagered $14.5 million on baseball, which is more than seven times the $2 million bet on the sport in June.

The return of the NBA also greatly boosted basketball betting.

In June, $600,000 worth of basketball bets were brought in, but this number dramatically increased to $5.8 million in July.

NHL betting, being the final component of the trio, is finally in action as the Stanley Cup Playoffs have commenced.

The monthly revenue reports of Indiana categorize the betting numbers for hockey under the “other” category of sports.

Since sports are on break, bets are now being placed on table tennis and other less popular sports in that category.

The handle of that other category increased from $20.4 million to $33.4 million with the return of the NHL.

Expect baseball and basketball betting to reclaim their top positions in Indiana’s handle as the months progress.

Baseball had only returned for roughly a week in July, and the NBA had just two days of activity. Now that both sports are progressing at full throttle, their handles are expected to skyrocket in August.

BetMGM beats out BetRivers

Since the inception of online sports betting in Indiana in October 2019, the same three Indiana betting apps have consistently dominated the market.

DraftKings has led the market, with FanDuel trailing behind, and then BetRivers.

Nonetheless, this is no longer the situation.

BetMGM outperformed BetRivers in July, after months of BetRivers holding the No. 3 spot.

The sportsbook was launched in Indiana in February, just weeks before the shutdowns due to the coronavirus.

BetMGM never really had an opportunity to establish its share in the state’s market due to lack of sports to bet on. However, this is finally beginning to alter.

In July, BetMGM generated $3.5 million in wagers, whereas BetRivers accumulated $2.7 million.

MGM Resorts, a behemoth in the gambling world, supports BetMGM. This backing, together with the company’s high brand recognition, unsurprisingly contributes to the sportsbook’s strong performance.

The intensity of competition for Indiana’s market is continually increasing.

Unibet has recently started operations in Indiana, and other sportsbooks such as theScore Bet will be going live shortly.

If BetRivers wants to prevent a further decline in the state’s rankings, it must persistently seek innovative ways to compete.