Indiana Casino Industry Has Best July Against Gamblers In A Decade

By | Updated on 16 August, 2021

Brian served as a senior reporter and online content manager for Card Player Magazine for nearly a decade before joining USBets in October 2018. He is currently focused on legal and regulated sports betting and online gaming. He's an avid jiu-jitsu practitioner in his free time.

Sports betting helped push Indiana to a near record amount of winnings off gamblers last month.

The state’s casinos and their respective sports betting partners raked in a combined $235,764,205, the most for a July since the Indiana casinos — sans sports betting — won $246,969,064 in July 2011. Back then, the state of Ohio wasn’t a competitor to Indiana in the casino trade.

Of the $235.8 million last month, $218,311,026 was from table games and electronic gaming machines, with $17,453,179 from retail/online sports betting. Of that $218.3 million, $41,566,984 was from table games and $188,252,987 was from the machines.

Indiana casino winnings of nearly $247 million in July 2011 consisted of $33,142,626 from tables and $213,965,188 from machines, according to the state figures.

The top casino in the state was the same in 2011 as it is now. Horseshoe Hammond led the casinos last month with $34,333,902 from slots and tables. It led all the casinos a decade ago with $44,488,257.

Rebound in 2021

July’s result was better than June’s $229,965,481 and second best for the year so far, trailing only May’s $258,215,503, which was the biggest May ever for the industry.

Indiana casino revenue of $1.62 billion in 2020 fell nearly 25% compared to 2019, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year is shaping up to show that the industry picked up where it left off pre-COVID, with growing revenue thanks to sports betting and strong demand for all forms of gambling.

Indiana’s big gains come alongside a national resurgence for gaming. It is expected to be a record year for the industry, according to figures from the second quarter provided by the American Gaming Association. Indiana is not on pace to set a new record for gaming win, however, as it was once at about $3 billion per year. It will likely take online casinos for Indiana to make a run at all-time highs over the course of a calendar year, which were set when the state had much less regional competition for gaming dollars. Indiana considered an online casino bill this year.

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