Indiana Sports Gamblers Wager New Record $187.1M In February

By | Updated on 24 May, 2022

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.

Indiana’s sports betting market continues to grow steadily, especially over the internet.

On Tuesday, the Indiana Gaming Commission released figures showing that the state-sanctioned retail and online/mobile sportsbooks took a combined $187.1 million in wagers last month, a new record handle for the nascent Indiana sports gambling market.

The books took $170.8 million in wagers in January. The month-over-month gain was 9.5%, greater than the 5.5% handle increase seen between December and January.

The books won just over $11 million from bettors in February, for a hold percentage of 5.9%.

Online/mobile handle

Indiana currently has six online/mobile sportsbooks: FanDuel, DraftKings, BetRivers, PointsBet, BetMGM, and BetAmerica, all of which boast attractive bonus offers. Those books took a combined $145.8 million in wagers last month, which came to an impressive 77.9% of the total handle.

That percentage was up from the 72.1% in online/mobile handle from January. Indiana sports wagering kicked off in September with retail sportsbooks, and the first online/mobile platforms launched the following month. The state legalized sports betting in May 2019.

The opening dates for the online/mobile books were:

  • DraftKings: Oct. 3
  • BetRivers: Oct. 3
  • FanDuel: Oct. 22
  • BetAmerica: Dec. 30
  • BetMGM: Feb. 25
  • PointsBet: March 5

DraftKings and FanDuel dominated in market share last month with a combined 94.5% of the online/mobile handle.

Here’s a look at handle by online/mobile book:

  • DraftKings: $74.1 million
  • FanDuel: $63.8 million
  • BetRivers: $7.6 million
  • BetAmerica: $212,000
  • BetMGM: $70,000
  • PointsBet: N/A

The online/mobile handle share will only increase over time, especially as more digital sportsbooks launch. More are on the horizon for the Hoosier State. In Pennsylvania and New Jersey, nearly 90% of wagers are now happening over cyberspace, a number Indiana should eventually reach.

Wagers by sport

The 9.5% total sports gambling handle increase in February was driven by basketball wagers, not the Super Bowl, though that single game did generate solid handle for the industry. Hoosiers likely had little connection to either the Niners or the Chiefs.

Here’s a look at handle by sport last month and month-over-month change:

  • Football: $11,644,661 (-62.8%)
  • Basketball: $90,197,491 (+50.8%)
  • Baseball: $329,340 (+143.2%)
  • Parlay: $44,098,183 (+8.6%)
  • Other: $39,726,196 (+61.5%)

Some notes on the handle changes:

  1. Football handle declined significantly thanks to the end of the college football season and the NFL playoffs whittling down to the final game. However, Indiana books do take action on the XFL, which began in February, so there was more than just the Super Bowl on the football betting menu last month.
  2. Baseball handle was up significantly percentage wise, presumably thanks to more bettors putting in their futures wagers for the upcoming season. The Hoosier State doesn’t have an MLB franchise, but bettors in the northwest and southeast parts of the state are close to popular teams.
  3. The “other” category, which includes hockey, combat sports, and so on, was up big, most likely thanks in large part to the highly anticipated Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury rematch on Feb. 22.