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Indiana's Lifetime Handle Hits $4B Despite a Slow July
By Jeff Osienya Aug 17, 2021 IndustryFollowing a historically slow July, Indiana fails to garner a $200 million handle from sports betting but still reaches a new milestone. Since its September 2019 market launch, the Hoosier state has collected a total of $4 billion worth of sports wagers.Sportsbooks in Indiana collected $194.5 million worth of wagers in July, marking the first time in almost a year that sports betting action in the state failed to garner a $200 million handle. The Hoosier State started its winning streak of racking up monthly handles of more than $200 million-plus back in September 2020, and the handle never slowed until now.
July’s handle is 21% less than the $246.3 million that the state collected in June, with the daily average volume of sports bets also significantly lower. Through the 31 days of July, sports bettors in the Hoosier state spent an average of $6.3 million every day, compared to the $8.2 million they spent over the 30 days of June. After an 8.9% hold in July, Indiana ended up generating a gross gaming revenue (GGR) of $17.2 million, 35.6% lower than June’s $26.7 million. Looking at state revenue, a total of $1.7 million was paid to the state in the form of taxes from July’s adjusted gross revenue of $17.5 million.
However, even after recording its poorest performance in a while, Indiana still managed to squeeze out a win from the dip. Thanks to July’s showing, Indiana’s lifetime sports betting crossed the $4 billion mark, marking a new milestone for the state’s sports betting industry. Interestingly, $3 billion of the overall lifetime handle has been wagered over the past 12 months.
July is a Historically Slow Month in the Entire US Sports Betting Industry
It’s important to note that last month’s dip came from a period that has historically been the poorest performer for sports betting across the US. While some action from the NBA Finals and the debut week of the 2020 Summer Olympics broke off a pattern of the usually dull July, it still wasn’t enough. Jessica Welman, a PlayUSA.com network analyst, discussed July’s general outlook in the US’s sports betting world with a few words saying:
Quote“Sports betting is ultimately for entertainment, and this time of year, it can take a backseat to long weekends at the lake or summer barbecues. With people traveling at an accelerated rate this summer, it appears that the trough is even more pronounced than usual. But July should be the low point, as bettors begin to return from their summer vacations in August and excitement builds for the upcoming football season.”
Excluding the pandemic-altered figures for July 2020, July was the slowest sports betting month for the entire country in 2019 and 2018. Nicole Russo, another analyst from the PlayUSA network, also shared some sentiments about July’s action in Indiana as follows:
Quote“Indiana’s love of basketball has helped shield the state’s sportsbooks from some of the more pronounced seasonal dips experienced in other states, so a smaller volume of games in July was felt. Betting interest on the Olympics appears to have been modest at best, and even with the NBA Finals being later than usual, it wasn’t enough to overcome fewer games being on the board.”
Baseball Hits a Home Run After Edging out Basketball for the First Time in 2021
Moving on to a sport-by-sport breakdown, baseball stole the show for the first time this year with a total handle of $63.5 million. Basketball which has usually been the sport that generates the most money for Indiana, was a distant second best with a $26.7 million handle, even with the NBA Finals taking place last month. Mind you, in June last year, basketball bets accounted for $77.1 million of the total handle. So far in 2021, sports bettors have wagered $896.9. million on basketball bets.
The NFL, on the other hand, brought in $2.2 million of the overall July 2021 handle, whereas the other sports combined – including the likes of gold, MMA, boxing, and a range of different sporting events, brought in $58.8 million. Meanwhile, parlay betting action managed to collect a total handle of over $45.3 million last month.
Bearing in mind that Indiana is now the first of the smallest US states to see a $4 billion lifetime handle, except of course for Nevada, Welman also said:
Quote“The market has changed significantly since launch, but from the beginning, Indiana has punched above its weight class among US markets. It remains a model market that states still considering the legalization of sports betting would be wise to emulate.”
Online & Mobile Sports Betting Reign in the Hoosier State
As for the performance of individual online and mobile sports betting operators in Indiana, here’s a quick highlight of the top performers:
- DraftKings (Ameristar Casino) – $60.2 million handle, $4.7 million gross receipts
- FanDuel (Blue Chip Casino) – $54.3 million handle, $5.3 million gross receipts
- BetMGM (Belterra Casino) – $25.6 million handle, $2.2 million gross receipts
- Barstool (Hollywood Lawrenceburg Casino) – $7.2 million handle, $463K gross receipts
- PointsBet (Hollywood Lawrenceburg Casino) – $7 million handle, $747K gross receipts
With online and mobile sports betting contributing to 92% of Indiana’s sports betting handle in July, Russo added that:
Quote“Retail betting is still trying to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels, and news of a fresh surge in the pandemic is the latest challenge for the industry. Online sportsbooks will continue to flourish in the state, but it’s apparently going to continue to be a hard road for the retail side.”
As for retail sports betting, the Hollywood Lawrenceburg Casino saw the most action, owing in part to its proximity to Ohio and Kentucky, two states where sports betting isn’t legal yet. With a $5.9 million handle and $1.2 million revenue. In July, this 7-figure revenue accounted for 46.8% of the overall revenue generated from Indiana’s retail sports betting facilities.
Since regulated sports betting kicked off in Indiana in September 2019, the industry has generated a GGR of 334.6 million and brought in a total of $31.8 million for the state’s tax coffers.
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