Indiana’s sportsbooks observed a substantial reduction in their gambling activity in January, the first month of legal sports betting in neighboring Ohio. However, the situation wasn’t fully unfavorable for Hoosier operators.
At the outset of January, the Heritage Bank Center in Downtown Cincinnati displayed an advert for the Barstool Sportsbook at Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg, Ind. With sports betting now lawful in Ohio, Indiana sportsbooks experienced a drop in their handle last month, but compared to January 2022, the sportsbooks saw their revenues ascend. (Image: Casino.org)
The retail sportsbooks and online gaming applications reported a handle of $427.2 million and adjusted gross revenues (AGR) of $36.5 million for the initial month of 2023.
The January handle was down near 1% from the December handle of $431.4 million, and revenues decreased by 14.5% from the $42.7 million the operators collected that month.
However, compared to January 2022, last month’s handle declined by more than 14% from the all-time monthly record handle of $500.1 million the state produced a year ago. Despite that larger handle, though, Indiana’s sportsbooks witnessed revenues increase by almost $886,000 last month.
Indiana taxes AGR at 9.5%, meaning the state received $3.4 million in revenue last month.
Retail Sportsbooks Close to Cincy Take a Hit
With sports betting now legal in Ohio as of January 1, this meant that numerous operators in Indiana would likely lose a considerable amount of their business. This was especially true for retail sportsbooks in the southeast corner of the state, in closest proximity to the Cincinnati market.
In addition to 16 mobile apps and hundreds of sports betting kiosks at lottery retailers in Ohio , there are four retail sportsbooks available in Cincinnati as well as ones at Miami Valley Racing and Gaming and Hollywood Gaming at Dayton Raceway. All of these are likely to serve customers who were formerly traveling to Indiana to make their bets.
Indiana’s retail sportsbooks in the region did observe large drops. Hollywood Lawrenceburg, which is located about a mile from the Ohio state line, recorded a handle of $6.5 million last month. This was compared to a handle of $13.6 million in December 2022 and $13.2 million in January 2022.
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