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Indiana Hits a Record Quarter Billion Mark for its Sports Betting Handle in November
By Jeff Osienya Dec 29, 2020 IndustryIndiana continues to record tremendous growth in sports betting despite the current pandemic-related setbacks. In November, sports bettors spent $250 million-plus overall as the state’s lifetime handle nears the 2 billion mark.The Hoosier state is proving to be one of the states to watch in the US sports betting industry after reporting another record handle for the third month in a row. The state’s gaming regulator, the Indiana Gaming Commission recently disclosed that in November, sports bettors parted with a total of $250,872,627 in wagers to make the Hoosier State the fifth-largest sports betting market in the USA.
November’s handle is 8.86% higher than the $230,932,250 handle that was collected for October which was also a high-water mark for Indiana. Moreover, compared to November 2019’s handle which stood at $147.3 million, sports betting in the state has surged by a cool 70.7% year-over-year handle-wise, indicating that the state’s potential in the betting sector is growing bigger than ever.
Of the $250 million-plus handle that was racked up by the Hoosier State in November, the adjusted gross revenue was also another record-smashing figure at $25.3 million. This revenue is 20.1% more than the $21.1 million that the state won in October and 172.4% more than the $9.3 million bagged in November last year. Besides, the Hoosier State added $2.4 million to its tax coffers from November’s sports betting activity.
A Closer Look at Indiana’s Sports Betting Numbers for November
As has always been the trend across the USA states that have a regulated sports betting market, football was the most popular sport in Indiana, accounting for $113,482,907 of the total handle. Basketball came in at a distant second with total bets worth $17,656,869 and baseball rounded up the top three most popular sports in bets with just $393,585. Meanwhile, parlays and the ‘other’ sports category accumulated a betting handle of $ 119.2 million.
Mobile sports bets accounted for 85% of the total handle for the Hoosier State with $213.7 million. This is a 10.7% increase from October’s $193 million and a whopping 122.1% surge year-on-year from the $96.2 million nabbed in November last year.
Moving on to the performance of sportsbook operators, DraftKings at the Ameristar Casino in East Chicago continued to reign as champion in the Hoosier State. For November, the Nasdaq listed sportsbook giant saw a total of $103.7 million worth of bets wagered on its sportsbook and mobile betting application. The runner up for operators in Indiana was FanDuel, located at the Blue Chip Casino after collecting a total handle of $66 million, followed by BetMGM affiliated with the Belterra Casino where players wagered a total of $26.2 million.
For casino gaming, however, the Hoosier State slowed down compared to the previous month. Per the November Indiana Gaming Commission report, Indiana only managed to collect a total of $148.2 million from casino games including table games and slot machines. This was 11% lower than the $166.6 million that was won in October. Likewise, there was also a 10.8% decline in taxable adjusted gaming revenue for the casino haul which was $133.3 million in November, down from $149.4 million in October.
The Hoosier State is Edging Closer to Another Milestone
Thanks to the state’s good sports betting performance especially in the last three months despite the COVID-19 challenges that it currently faces, Indiana is $100 million shy of an impressive $1 billion sports betting handle in 2020. The months September, October, and November alone have earned the state a handle of $689 million. Meanwhile, as the Hoosier State is racing towards the 1 billion mark from a combined annual handle in 2020, New Jersey, the country’s largest sports betting market at the moment, nearly hit the 10-figure sports betting handle in November.
As for the state’s lifetime sports betting handle, if things continue with the same pace, Indiana will have seen a total of over $2 billion in sports betting wagers by the time December ends. So far, since Indiana’s sports betting launched in September 2019, the total handle is standing at almost $1.9 billion after last month’s stellar performance.
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