Betting

Indiana breaks sports betting handle record in October

By Conor Mulheir - 15 Nov, 2021

Sportsbooks in Indiana have broken the state record for betting volume for the second consecutive month, after taking $461m in bets throughout October.

The previous record, set in September, was just $355.4m.

In October, operators made an adjusted gross revenue (AGR) from sports betting of $27.7m, and paid $2.6m in sports wagering taxes.

These figures are lower than those recorded in September, during which operators generated a taxable AGR of $33.9m and paid $3.2m in sports wagering taxes.

In October, the Ameristar Casino continued to take in the greatest volume of bets, at $160.1m in handle. This was followed by Blue Chip, in partnership with FanDuel, on $114.7m, and Belterra Casino, also with FanDuel, on $49.9m.

Harrah’s Hoosier Park and Hollywood Lawrenceburg also brought in between $45m and $50m each in handle, while the remaining 7 sports betting licensees brought in $15m or less.

Football proved to be the most popular sport for betting, with $175.8m in wagers placed during October.

Parlay bets accounted for $127.6m of the handle, with basketball, baseball, and other sports accounting for $53.5m, $34.8m and $67.1m, respectively.

Wagers on basketball increased dramatically following the return of the NBA in October, after a short hiatus. In September, Indiana recorded just $5.2m in wagers on basketball, less than one tenth of October’s total.

These figures brought Indiana’s sports betting handle for the fiscal year-to-date (beginning 1 July) to $1.21bn, and made the state the fifth in the US to surpass $5bn in legal sports betting handle since the market’s launch in 2019.