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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana sportsbooks accepted $35.2 million in wagers in September in their first month of operations, according to numbers released Thursday by the Indiana Gaming Commission.
Indiana’s share of the sports betting proceeds through wagering taxes during the month was $813,000. That number will increase when bets made in September on future events (such as the Super Bowl) are determined.
The bets produced $8.6 million in adjusted gross revenue for the sportsbooks.
Not all of the state’s casinos began accepting sports wagers on the first day available for betting, so the betting amounts are likely to grow in future months. In addition, online sports betting began this month in Indiana through two companies with mobile sports wagering apps, and several more are set to go online soon.
PlayUSA.com Network, a news and research organization that follows sports gambling and operates PlayNJ.com and PlayIndiana.com, called the first-month data “impressive.”
“Indiana’s sportsbooks are in their infancy, but their ability to capitalize on the Chicago market did not take long to produce dividends,” said Dustin Gouker, lead analyst for PlayIndiana.com, in written comments. “This is the largest handle we’ve seen in a state’s first month of legal sports betting, and it happened without the benefit of online sports betting, which didn’t launch until October. That is a testament to Indiana’s existing infrastructure.”
Football was the most popular sport in September with $20.7 million in bets, or 60% of the wagers.
After football, were parlay wagers on the outcome of multiple games or sports (28% of wagers) and baseball (10%).
“Indiana showed in its first month a familiar pattern where football betting is far and away the main driver in the industry,” said Kim Yuhl, analyst for PlayIndiana.com. “The ability to make online and mobile bets, though, should send the state’s handle into a new stratosphere. Indiana is clearly on a trajectory to become one of the country’s largest legal sports betting markets.”
Horseshoe Hammond, near Chicago, generated a state-best wagering total of $8.98 million, followed by Ameristar Casino in East Chicago ($5.4 million) and Hollywood Lawrenceburg ($5.2 million), near Cincinnati.
They were followed by:
- Harrah’s Hoosier Park ($4.3 million);
- Blue Chip Casino ($3.8 million);
- Indiana Grand ($3.6 million);
- Tropicana Evansville ($1.1 million);
- Caesars Southern Indiana ($1.1 million);
- French Lick Resort ($939,222);
- Belterra Casino ($709,219).
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Can you place cold wagers at a liquor store on Sundays before noon or after 8pm? I tried to place a cold parlay at the local Kroger when investing in my weekly Hoosier Lottery ticket but was told they only sold warm sports bets.
Wonder where the OTB locations fell in these numbers? Do they get lumped into the parent casino counts?
Very good question.