Sports Betting in Indiana Surges to Record $461 Million In October

"Five full weekends of the NFL and college football, the opening of the NBA season, and baseball's postseason gave sportsbooks a rare convergence of betting inventory in October," said Jake Garza, an analyst for PlayIndiana.com. "To surpass the previous record by so much shows an increasing base of bettors, too. It's hard to imagine a better start to the football season than what has happened in the last two months."

Online and retail sportsbooks drew $461.1 million in October, easily surpassing September's record handle of $355.4 million by 29.7%, according to official reporting released Friday. October's handle was also up 99.7% from $230.9 million in October 2020. Bettors increased the pace of betting to $14.9 million per day over the 31 days of October from $11.8 million per day in September and $7.4 million in October 2020.

Despite the surge in betting, gross revenue fell 16.4% to $27.8 million from the record of $33.3 million set in September. Year-over-year, revenue was up 10.9% from $25.1 million in October 2020. October's win created $27.6 million in taxable revenue, yielding $2.6 million in state taxes.

With five weekends of games, football betting jumped 18.4% to $175.8 million in October from $148.6 million in September. The opening of the NBA season led to significant action, too, jumping to $53.5 million in basketball betting from just $5.2 million in September. Parlay betting also rose to $127.6 million from $92.0 million.

The record month pushed Indiana into some rarified air among legal sports jurisdictions, joining New Jersey, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Illinois as the only states to generate a handle of more than $450 million in a month, more than $5 billion in lifetime legal sports betting, and more than $400 million in lifetime gross revenue.

Since launching in 2019, Indiana sportsbooks have generated:

• $5.1 billion in wagering


• $412.5 million in gross revenue


• $78.3 million in tax revenue

"No state has capitalized on its potential as a sports betting market better than Indiana," said Eric Ramsey, an analyst for the PlayUSA.com Network, which includes PlayIndiana.com. "As impressive as some of these records have been, it is also important to remember that Indiana as a market still hasn't fully matured."

Online betting drew $411.9 million in wagers, or 89.3% of October's total handle. DraftKings led online operators in October with a $150.7 million handle, up from $130.4 million handle in September. Last month's bets created $7.8 million in gross receipts, up from $7.2 million in September. FanDuel was next with $113.3 million in online wagering, up from $77.2 million in September. Those bets produced a state-best $9.2 million in gross receipts.

Retail sportsbooks accepted $49.2 million in wagering in October, up from $35.3 million in September. Hollywood Lawrenceburg easily led retail books with $15.6 million in wagers, up from $11.5 million in September. Ameristar East Chicago was second with a $6.8 million handle

At least three more online operators have plans to launch in the state before the end of the year: Bally Bet, Fubo, and SBK sportsbooks. That would give Indiana 15 licensees.

"New operators are still investing in Indiana, which is evidence that there is still significant upside in the state," Garza said. "The environment has changed significantly over the last two years, but Indiana continues to flourish even as its larger neighbors adopt sports betting."