Indiana Handles 25% Less Bets in April

No Surprise: Indiana Betting Revenue Takes a Dive in April

Sports betting has generated a new stream of free-flowing wealth for the state of Indiana. Since the first retail and mobile sportsbooks launched in 2019, millions upon millions of dollars have been funneled into the government’s desperately exhausted coffers. According to the Indiana Gaming Commission (IGC), however, the amount of money bookmakers are handling is experiencing a mass, negative fluctuation at the moment.

After recording more than $316 million in total wagers for the month of March, retail and online handle dropped 25.4% in April. The good news is, that dramatic decline was entirely expected. March revenue was inspired by the annual NCAA Basketball Tournament, known coast to coast as March Madness. Now, with no major sports championship series to boost the degree of incoming wagers, revenue isn’t expected to escalate again until the start of the NFL season in the fall.

Indiana Betting Revenue Takes Expected Dive in April

March Madness brought in one of the highest wagering yields ($316,717,762) Indiana’s nascent sports betting market has ever seen; second only to January 2021 ($348,244,676), when betting was influenced by an epic match-up in Super Bowl LV.

The state collected $2.8m and $2.5m in betting taxes during January and March, respectively. Combined, that $5.3 million accounts for just over 20% of the total taxes generated from retail and online sports betting since regulation went into effect less than two years ago.

Conversely, betting for the month of April saw $236,403,308 million in wagers coming through the state’s licensed betting venues, marking the lowest handle since October 2020 ($230,932,251). Fortunately for the state’s tax offices, taxation isn’t based on handle, but rather revenue.

Revenue is calculated as the amount sportsbooks earn from bettors; that is, the total bets taken in, minus the amount paid back out as winnings. And despite October’s lower yield, the revenue still came in at $21.2 million. The 9.5% tax rate funneled just over $2 million the state. April wasn’t much worse, generating $1.9m in taxes from $20.08 million. That’s more than the state collected in February 2021, when bookies handled $273.9m, but only cleared $16.96m in revenue, worthy of $1.6m in taxes.

Comparing year over year (YoY), as opposed to monthly results, April looks a whole lot better. Last year, the IGC’s revenue reports recorded $26.3 million in wagers for April 2020. Contrasting the numbers in that light, sportsbooks can proudly boast an increase in wagering of close to 900% YoY. I guess it’s true when they say it’s all about your perspective.

Retail vs Mobile Betting Revenue

When we look at the differential between mobile and retail betting, we continue to see a strong preference for online wagering, more so this year than last. In fact, it seems the proclivity for mobile betting in Indiana is growing stronger with each passing month, slight though it may be. Whether it’s due to current circumstances in the real world, or the sheer convenience of betting from home, is uncertain.

In April, 88.44% of all sports wagers were taken over the internet. That’s up slightly from 88.15% in March, 88.00% in February, and 85.14% in January. The 2020 IGC report indicates 70% of all wagers were handled via mobile access.

Indiana Sports Betting Summer Forcast

Ask any industry expert – or just your average sports betting fan – and they’ll tell you wagering isn’t likely to pick up again before the NFL season gets underway in September. Basketball and baseball games keep will the market moving, but they just don’t draw the volume of wagers seen on professional and collegiate football, or at the least, a major tournament like the NCAAB. This is nothing more than a natural ebb and flow, experienced by sportsbooks in Las Vegas year after year.