Horsehoe Hammond will become the first casino in Indiana to have multiple mobile sports betting skins starting Thursday following the Indiana Gaming Commission’s approval of Unibet for online and mobile sports wagering.
The IGC announced the approval Tuesday, with Executive Director Sara Tait giving the OK. Unibet, which already has mobile sports betting and casino apps available in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania, is the eighth online/mobile platform to enter the Hoosier State since sports betting launched in September 2019.
Horseshoe Hammond, which is the largest retail sportsbook in the state in terms of handle, also offers Caesars Online platform as a mobile sports wagering offering. Horseshoe Hammond, though, has been marked as one of three properties Eldorado Resorts will sell in Indiana as part of its $17 billion merger with Caesars that was completed earlier this month.
Trying to break the FanDuel/DraftKings hold on Indiana
Unibet’s entrance into Indiana gives it a presence in three of the arguably most mature mobile sports betting markets in the nascent industry in the United States. It has generated nearly $11.6 million in mobile handle since commencing operations in Pennsylvania in partnership with Mohegan Sun in the Poconos in September and is one of three mobile betting skins in New Jersey in partnership with Hard Rock Cafe in Atlantic City.
Additionally, Caesars Online in Indiana is still a relatively new mobile/online presence, launching in mid-May. It has failed to gain much traction — it has generated a cumulative handle of $41,507 and revenue of $6,413. Since sports betting launched last September, Indiana has generated a mobile/online handle of more than $677 million, which accounts for more than 70% of its overall handle of $962 million through June.
Even with the second mobile skin, breaking the stranglehold FanDuel and DraftKings has on Indiana will prove challenging. The two online titans produced a combined mobile/online handle of $26.1 million in June, which accounted for more than 87% of the state’s overall handle last month as the sports betting industry tries to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic.