SBK Sportsbook Inches Closer To Launching In Indiana Market

SBK Sportsbook is finally nearing its launch in Indiana.

The operator has just secured its temporary vendor license from the Indiana Gaming Commission, marking a significant progress towards opening a sportsbook in the state.

SBK is already operational in Colorado, making Indiana the sportsbook’s second market in the US.

Indiana welcomes foreign sportsbooks

Operators from other parts of the world have been steadily making their way to Indiana.

Earlier this spring, PointsBet, an Australian-based company, made history by becoming the first foreign sportsbook to enter the market. Since then, it has been a staple in Indiana’s sports betting scene.

A few months later, Unibet and theScore Bet also launched in Indiana.

Now, it’s time for SBK to join the party. The operator based in London has been focusing on its expansion into Indiana for more than a year.

However, SBK isn’t the only European operator heading to Indiana. 888Sport is also set to launch in the Hoosier State in 2021.

In terms of launch timelines, SBK is more advanced in the process.

888 still needs to secure its temporary vendor license, hence SBK might be able to launch a few months before 888 gets the opportunity to.

Partnership between SBK and Rising Star Casino Indiana

Smarkets, the company that owns SBK, has partnered with Full House Resorts, giving SBK market access to Indiana. Full House Resorts is the owner of the Rising Star Casino located in southern Indiana.

Every online sportsbook in Indiana is required to partner with a retail casino. The agreement between Smarkets and Full House designates Rising Star as SBK's partner in Indiana.

Rising Star undoubtedly hopes that this second partnership fares better than the first.

The casino initially collaborated with BetAmerica to launch the sportsbook last year, but the company has faced significant challenges since then.

During the majority of its operation in Indiana, BetAmerica has been the least successful sportsbook in the state.

The only occasion it has managed to accumulate a larger handle than its competitors is when a new sportsbook is introduced in the final days of a month.

For instance, on October 26, William Hill launched its digital operations in Indiana. BetAmerica managed to slightly surpass William Hill’s October handle of $150,000 with their own handle of $180,000.

However, considering William Hill was only operational for five days that month, it’s highly likely that it would have surpassed BetAmerica in terms of numbers if it had been open for a longer period. Even a few additional days might have been sufficient to achieve this.

Now that Rising Star is on the brink of incorporating SBK, the casino is hopeful that this new alliance will bring in some profits.

It’s impossible to predict with certainty until SBK begins accepting wagers, but it would be challenging to fail as significantly as BetAmerica did with Hoosiers.