All good things must come to an end, and in the case of sports betting in Indiana, the streak of monthly records for handle was snapped at five on Friday when the Indiana Gaming Commission reported that nearly $273.9 million in wagers were made in the month of February.
The shortest month of the year coupled with the end of the NFL season — the Super Bowl was the only pro football game in February — contributed to a sharp 21.4% decline in handle month-over-month. Indiana, which will get a chance to rebound as the state hosts the entire NCAA tournament starting next week, had seen its handle surge from more than $207 million last September to $344.2 million in January.
Operators saw their revenue cut nearly in half compared to January’s record haul of more than $29.3 million, collecting almost $17 million in February. It was a double whammy of sorts for the books as the public also fared far better in February, limiting operators to a 6.19% win rate — the lowest since 5.82% in August and fourth-lowest in 18 months of action.
The revenue total was still the fifth-highest recorded in the Hoosier State since launching in September 2019, and enough to extend the state’s monthly streak of generating at least $1 million in tax receipts to six. State coffers received slightly more than $1.6 million as the all-time total cleared $20 million.
FanDuel posts rare win for monthly revenue honors
DraftKings has been the dominant mobile sportsbook in Indiana since its entrance and cleared $100 million in handle for the third straight month, though it did slip 12.4% from January to nearly $107.4 million last month. But FanDuel wrested away top mobile revenue honors from DraftKings for just the second time as it generated nearly $5 million in revenue compared to DraftKings’ $3.7 million.
FanDuel was not immune to the state’s dip in handle, though, falling off 20.5% to $70.9 million. BetMGM also endured a steep plunge, down 37% to $33 million. While the state’s 10 mobile operators did accept more than $241 million in wagers, only the three most recent entrants into the market prior to March — Unibet, theScore, and William Hill — enjoyed a month-to-month bump in handle.
Unibet climbed 16.4% to $1.8 million, narrowly missing its all-time high of $1.82 million set in October, while Canadian-based group theScore surged 21.1% to more than $2.7 million. William Hill posted its best handle ($5.6 million) and revenue ($584,406) figures since entering Indiana last October. Despite a drop of nearly 16% in handle from January, PointsBet appeared to firm up its hold on fourth over BetRivers as it reached eight figures for the third consecutive month.
BetMGM surpassed $200 million in total handle since entering Indiana, while BetRivers reached the $100 million plateau — the fourth mobile operator to reach nine figures in the Hoosier State. FanDuel also became the second mobile operator to generate $50 million in revenue with February’s total.
The mobile handle accounted for 88% of all bets and also pushed the all-time mobile handle percentage over 80% as nearly $2.27 billion in wagers have been made either by smartphone or online.
Over on the retail side
Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg continued to pace all retail sportsbooks, with its nearly $10.3 million in handle almost matching the combined total of its three closest pursuers — Ameristar Casino, Horseshoe Hammond, and Caesars Southern Indiana. That trio produced nearly $11.4 million, and the only other casino to reach seven figures was Tropicana in Evansville at nearly $1.6 million.
Hollywood’s revenue of $878,124 also topped all retail casino venues, while bettors at Tropicana and Blue Chip Casino in Belterra came out ahead in February as the pair paid out nearly $30,000 more than the $2.2 million accepted in wagers.
The state’s two horse racing tracks — Harrah’s Hoosier Park and Indiana Grand — combined for nearly $635,000 in revenue on almost $7.9 million in handle when including Winner’s Circle locations. Including casinos, Indiana Grand had the third-highest retail revenue total at $421,145, aided by its Winner’s Circle location in Clarksville providing $373,461 of that amount.
