Indiana’s sports betting handle took a step back in April.
Hoosiers wagered $236 million on sports throughout the month, which was noticeably lower than March’s $316 million haul.
However, that 25% drop is hardly an unexpected one. It’s typical for sports betting markets to see lower numbers during this time of the year.
Despite the dip, Indiana’s sports betting handle for 2021 has topped $1 billion just four months into the year.
Indiana April 2021 sports betting handle
April’s $236 million handle generated over $20 million in sportsbook revenue, and nearly $2 million worth of state taxes.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the state’s handle:
| Licensee | Online Brand(s) | Total Handle | Online Handle | Retail Handle | Revenue | State Tax |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ameristar East Chicago | DraftKings | theScore Bet | $87,631,485 | $82,437,019 | $5,194,466 | $7,136,527 | $677,970 |
| Blue Chip | FanDuel | $67,628,249 | $67,090,674 | $537,575 | $5,708,014 | $542,261 |
| Belterra | BetMGM | $31,377,566 | $30,932,736 | $444,830 | $3,100,499 | $294,547 |
| Hollywood Lawrenceburg | PointsBet | $18,717,214 | $10,287,400 | $8,429,814 | $2,178,860 | $206,992 |
| Tropicana Evansville | William Hill | $9,317,085 | $8,482,255 | $834,830 | $524,880 | $49,864 |
| French Lick | BetRivers | $7,490,581 | $7,260,939 | $229,642 | $385,283 | $36,602 |
| Horseshoe Hammond | Caesars | Unibet | $4,846,087 | $2,009,477 | $2,836,610 | $60,223 | $5,721 |
| Indiana Grand | $3,792,157 | $0 | $3,792,157 | $402,409 | $38,229 | |
| Harrah's | $3,504,269 | $0 | $3,504,269 | $408,041 | $38,764 | |
| Caesars Southern Indiana | $1,449,649 | $0 | $1,449,649 | $125,983 | $11,968 | |
| Rising Star | TwinSpires | WynnBet | $648,967 | $570,480 | $78,486 | $48,457 | $4,603 |
| Total | $236,403,308 | $209,070,980 | $27,332,328 | $20,079,176 | $1,907,522 |
Baseball steps into the spotlight
A smaller handle in April is common for states with legal online sports gambling.
Betting interest tends to follow the sports calendar throughout the year.
The NCAA Tournament did the bulk of the heavy lifting for Indiana’s numbers during March.
College hoops might be gone for now, but Indiana still racked up $76 million worth of basketball bets throughout April. That made it the most popular sport for gambling last month.
The NBA Playoffs will be taking place through late July, so basketball’s numbers will likely hang around until then.
Football is the most popular sport for betting in the US, and the next NFL season is still months away.
Despite that, Hoosiers still bet on the NFL, wagering $3 million on the sport during April. That’s all thanks to futures bets and the NFL Draft.
Baseball was the other notable contributor to Indiana’s sports betting revenue.
Hoosiers had an entire month to wager on baseball since MLB Opening Day was on April 1.
The sport racked up $44 million worth of bets throughout the month.
Spring and summer are baseball’s time to lead the sports betting charge.
America’s pastime should be front and center over the coming months as the other major sports leagues start to wind down their seasons.
WynnBet and TwinSpires make Indiana debuts
Two new Indiana sports betting apps opened for business during April.
WynnBET started taking action on April 1, so it had a full month of operation to get its feet off the ground.
The company took in over $400,000 worth of wagers during its first month in Indiana’s market.
All things considered, that debut handle is a little underwhelming for the sportsbook.
William Hill and theScore Bet were the two most recent sportsbook launches before WynnBET came to Indiana.
For the sake of comparison, theScore Bet pulled in about $1.4 million worth of wagers during its first full month in the mix.
William Hill had a stronger showing with its $4 million debut handle. That was likely due to the company’s high level of brand recognition for gamblers around the country.
TwinSpires hopped into the market on April 20, so it didn’t have a full month’s worth of runway to get things going.
The Churchill Downs product pulled in $158,000 worth of wagers during that 10 day stretch of business.
Both TwinSpires and WynnBET will have their work cut out for them in Indiana’s competitive market.
Indiana’s first sports betting spring
Indiana is in uncharted waters when it comes to its handle.
Sports betting started in the Hoosier State back in September 2019.
Last year would have been the market’s first go-around in the spring and summer, but the pandemic flipped everything on its head.
The COVID gut punch led to a record-low $26 million April handle in 2020.
This year’s $236 million April handle is obviously a big step up from last year’s pandemic-induced numbers.
Indiana only racked up about $460 million worth of sports betting wagers from January to April last year.
That might seem like a huge number, until you compare it to now.
Hoosiers have wagered over $1.1 billion on sports throughout that same stretch in 2021.
That massive change from year to year shows that anything can happen for Indiana’s market over the next few months.
Spring and summer are typically slower for sports betting, but they’ll still be a nice step up from Indiana’s pandemic numbers from last year.
The future of Indiana sports betting
May should be fairly similar to April when it comes to Indiana’s betting handle.
However, there are still some notable things on the horizon to keep an eye on.
First and foremost, Barstool Sportsbook should be launching in Indiana any day now.
The company was originally hoping to open for business before the end of April.
SBK Sportsbook might finally start taking bets in Indiana as well.
Adding in those two operators will give Indiana gamblers more online betting options than ever before.
The NBA Playoffs will also begin this month, which could generate some extra basketball betting interest.
Toss in the Indianapolis 500 over Memorial Day weekend, and bettors have a lot to choose from next month.
