The sports betting market in Indiana bounced back in August from a typically slow month of July.
There are simply less sports to wager on in July than any other month. The NFL has not yet begun, the NBA and NHL seasons have ended, and only baseball is fully in its regular season. With less options, players place fewer bets.
August at least has major golf and tennis championships, along with NFL preseason games and maybe an early college football contest to bet on.
August betting improved by 17%, with $238 million bet on sports in August. That generated over $23.5 million of taxable adjusted gross revenue, leading to over $2.2 million in tax dollars for the state.
Ameristar Casino leads the way in August
With more than a dozen Indiana online sports betting operators to choose from, players in The Hoosier State have plenty of bonuses and promotions available to them, all at their fingertips.
Ameristar Casino led the way in total handle in August by a massive margin. More than 40% of all wagers placed went through Ameristar to the tune of nearly $95.7 million in total handle.
DraftKings Indiana is the mobile and retail operator for Ameristar, which enjoyed the bulk of bets placed online ($94 million). Around $1.6 million was bet in person. Both of those figures led the state in August.
From that handle, nearly $7.6 million in revenue was generated from online wagers, with more than $145,000 of revenue coming from brick-and-mortar bets, for a total of just under $7.7 million in adjusted gross revenue (AGR).
Blue Chip generates most revenue in August for Indiana
While DraftKings took the most wagers, it was Blue Chip Casino that generated the most revenue through its sports betting partnership with FanDuel Sportsbook Indiana. Despite having around $70.8 million of total handle – about 35% less than DraftKings – FanDuel reported over $8.5 million of AGR. That is about 10% more revenue, which was enough to lead the state.
In third for total sports betting handle in August was Harrah’s Hoosier Park, which took in nearly $20.7 million in bets, edging out Belterra. Harrah’s partners with Caesars Indiana, which took in nearly $17 million of online wagers. When adding up everything, Harrah’s came away with $1.6 million in AGR.
Here are the rest of the pack that took in at least $1 million in wagers:
- Belterra Casino: $20.5 million
- Hollywood Lawrenceburg: $12.5 million
- French Lick Resort: $6.7 million
- Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana: $3.4 million
- Horseshoe Indianapolis: $3.1 million
- Horseshoe Hammond: $1.5 million
- Caesars Southern Indiana: $1.1 million
Rising Star Casino, which saw nearly $784,000 in total handle, stopped taking bets this month. BetAmerica was its sports betting partner originally, but the decision to stop taking bets led to Rising Star sports betting coming under the $1 million threshold.
Leading the pack in types of bets were parlay or combination bets, which accumulated for nearly $70.7 million in total handle. Baseball was next with $66.8 million in wagers.
IN gets over $2.2M from sports wagering taxes
The success of the Indiana sports betting market in August also meant more money for the state, but not much.
In July, the worst sports betting month of the year, just over $2.2 million was contributed to the state. In the much busier month of August, $2.23 million was contributed.
This might seem confusing considering the 17% increase in wagers placed, but tax dollars are pulled from AGR, not total handle. With more wagers being won by bettors, there was similar amounts of revenue generated despite the increase in bets. That means the taxable AGR was virtually the same in July and August.
In total, more than $2.2 million was sent to the state of Indiana via tax dollars. Leading the way in tax contributions was Blue Chip Casino, with nearly $809,000. Ameristar Casino was a close second with just under $729,000 of tax dollars contributed. In third was Belterra Casino with almost $253,000.
Here are the rest of the casinos and the tax dollars contributed to the state:
- Harrah’s Hoosier Park: $154,000
- Hollywood Lawrenceburg: $106,000
- French Lick Resort: $73,000
- Horseshoe Indianapolis: $34,000
- Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana: $30,000
- Horseshoe Hammond: $17,000
- Bally’s Evansville: $12,000
- Caesars Southern Indiana: $12,000
- Rising Star Casino: $8,000
Indiana has a 9.5% tax rate on sports wagering AGR for both retail and mobile sports betting. August’s $2.2 million of tax dollars was lower than August 2022, which had just over $2.4 million added to the state of Indiana.
