Supply and demand is one of the most basic economic principles. There was a lot of supply and a ton of demand in the month of September and the state of Indiana was able to take full advantage with a massive handle eclipsing $200 million in sports betting wagers.
The return of the NFL and the college football season, even without Big Ten action, was a major factor in Indiana’s record-setting numbers. September marked the first time ever that Indiana got over $200 million wagers and actually wound up with $207,450,106 in bets. That was a 489% increase from September 2019, which was the last month before online and mobile wagering went live through BetRivers Sportsbook and DraftKings Sportsbook.
State officials had to be happy with the increased supply and demand. With a record-setting handle, the state also enjoyed a record-setting month from a tax revenue standpoint. The state took in $1.4 million in tax revenue in September 2020, which was easily the high point since Indiana began online and mobile betting on October 3, 2019.
Interestingly enough, even though DraftKings Sportsbook at Casino Queen is up and running in Illinois and the state has temporarily lifted its in-person registration requirement, Ameristar East Chicago, which is a DraftKings sportsbook, once again pulled in the highest taxable revenue.
The Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City has a FanDuel Sportsbook and ranked second in taxable revenue. The Hollywood Lawrenceburg was third.
Ameristar took on more than $95 million of the handle, with over $89.4 million under the DraftKings brand and another $407,678 for theScore Bet. FanDuel picked up nearly $57 million for Blue Chip and then just over $16 million for the Hollywood property. Also of note is that BetMGM Sportsbook at Belterra was fourth with just shy of $14 million. That would certainly suggest that Ohio and Kentucky are helping to fuel Belterra’s revenues with close proximity to those two states and specifically two big cities like Louisville and Cincinnati close by.
Per the official Indiana revenue report for September 2020, wagers were actually pretty split across the three major sports and “other”, which includes sports like soccer and hockey. Football drove the bus, as it always does, with over $48.4 million in wagers, but basketball pulled in over $34.2 million and baseball also crossed the $30 million threshold.
Parlay bets actually brought in the highest handle at $50.6 million and those are always the highest hold percentage wagers for the state, so they did well on those.
With the Big Ten ready to start play in October, we’ll have to wait and see if we get another record handle with baseball and basketball winding down. College basketball is likely to fuel new record numbers, assuming we get that sport in November.
It does look like Indiana made a great bet by approving sports betting legislation and hopefully other states are taking notice of the numbers.
