On Tuesday, the Indiana Gaming Commission added another sports league to its approved betting list.
The Hoosier State allowed books to bolster their respective soccer gambling offerings with the approval of wagering on the United States League (USL) Championship Division. There’s a team in Indianapolis called the Indy Eleven. The team has games at Lucas Oil Stadium, per the league’s website. There’s also a team in neighboring Kentucky called the Louisville City FC.
Legal sportsbooks in Indiana can take bets on any of the teams in the Championship Division.
The IGC approval brings the number of unique soccer leagues or associations approved for wagering to 20.
The USL Championship is sanctioned by the U.S. Soccer Federation as a Division II professional league, underneath Major League Soccer. Indiana doesn’t have an MLS team.
The Championship includes a membership of more than 30 clubs across the U.S. and Canada. The USL Championship has a national media partnership with ESPN, with the 2020 schedule kicking off in March.
The Indy Eleven, founded in 2013, made a playoff run in 2019.
A new mixed-use stadium in Indianapolis for the team is in the works, thanks to the state giving the project a green light last year. The development will cost more than $500 million.
State of Indiana sports betting
Indiana’s four online/mobile sportsbooks took more than $120 million worth of bets last month, per IGC figures released Monday. That was about 72% of the statewide total of $170.8 million, which includes the retail sportsbooks sprinkled around the state.
According to state figures, football, basketball, and baseball (including parlays) have generated nearly 90% of the sports betting handle since legal betting began in September. The idea behind taking bets on the USL Championship is to boost the “other” category.
Indiana continues to enjoy a regional exclusivity for sports betting, with Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Illinois all not yet having legal sportsbooks of any kind.
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