Indiana Sports Betting Industry Sees Another Handle Drop
Many states have been seeing yearly lows in their sports betting handles for a few months, but Indiana seems to be seeing the worst of it. Indiana’s sports betting handle has been dropping, and June was its lowest month in a very long time. This totaled to $256.3 million in wagers. Indiana sports betting hasn’t seen a handle that low since last August.
These Indiana sports betting numbers became available a few weeks ago, and they took the sports betting industry by surprise. Even when compared to numbers from last year, this handle seems pretty low. Last May, the Indiana sports betting handle was $308.3 million, which means June of this year was around a 17% drop. However, compared to last year’s June, this June handle rose by just 4%.
Even with that 4% raise, the Indiana sports betting industry still isn’t doing as well as other states. Many states are seeing yearly lows right now, as many professional sports are out of season, but these lows are still quite a bit higher than last year’s handles at the same time. The last time Indiana saw a handle under $300 million was in August of the past year.
Where the Money Came From
Most of the June sports betting handle came from wagers placed on baseball, which is fairly unusual for the state. In fact, this is the first time over the course of this year that baseball had the most bets placed on it, but this makes sense. Baseball is pretty much the only regular season that bettors can put their money on, and they were also able to place bets on the (at the time) upcoming MLB draft.
However, the NBA finals also took place in June. Many sports fans in Indiana have an affinity for basketball, so the fact that MLB betting rose above the NBA in total wagers still came as a surprise to many. Baseball saw $84.6 million in wagers, while basketball saw $36.4 million. When the basketball season was at its highest point in March, the state’s handle was $476.8 million.
In revenue, Indiana didn’t do too poorly, but it wasn’t their greatest month by far. Operators took home $15.8 million in June, which comes to a 6.2% hold. When compared to the month before, in which the May revenue came to a 10% hold and $30.7 million in revenue, this is quite the drop. However, taxes won’t be too large of a problem, as the Indiana sports betting tax rate for operators is just 9.5%.
Online Sports Betting on Top
Online sports betting has been at the top of the industry for most states that offer it, and Indiana is no exception. FanDuel took the lead in June for online operators with a handle of $79.4 million. DraftKings saw a handle of $70.8 million. In third for online operators came BetMGM, which had a $33.2 million handle.
Indiana has done pretty well in taxes, but June was quite the drop. So far this year, Indiana has brought in $15.1 million in taxes, and June brought in less than $1.5 million of that number.
