Indiana Enjoys March Madness Sports Betting Bump

The Hoosier State had a successful March Madness from a sports betting perspective – and just about everyone got in on the fun.

The Indiana legal sports betting industry experienced an expected bump in handle and revenues in March fueled primarily by the NCAA men's basketball tournament. And a poor performance by Indiana teams in the March Madness tournament provided a spike in hold rate for the state's providers – and ultimately, a healthy month-over-month increase in taxes collected.

It isn't all great news for the Indiana sports betting scene, however - the Indiana Gaming Commission's March report also identified a year-over-year declines for the basketball-crazed state. With college hoops action concluded and with the Pacers mired in a disappointing season, things aren’t likely to improve for Hoosier State sportsbooks until September, when the bread-and-butter NFL season kicks off once again.

A look at the handle

Indiana sports betting sites took in $433 million in March, a 21.6% month-over-month increase from the $356.1 million reported in February. It was a nice bounce back from what was a disappointing February. Unsurprisingly, $224.3 million of the overall handle came from basketball, the bulk of which was from college ball.

Last year at this time, Indiana sportsbooks took in $476.8 million. The March 2022 handle was 9.2% higher than was reported last month. Looking back, Indiana's handle record came in January 2022 when a whopping $500.14 million was wagered with the state's legal providers.

Revenues rose, too

The Indiana Gaming Commission identified $42.8 million in adjusted gross sports wagering revenues for March. That is up significantly from the $27.7 million in sportsbook profits in February 2023 and the $32.3 million in adjusted revenues from March 2022.

Indiana tax coffers benefitted from the rise in profits and hold rate and collected $4.1 million from the state's legal sports betting providers - about a 44% increase from February.

Sportsbook hold rate increased to 9.8% in March, from 7.7% in February. That is no thanks to top ranked Purdue crashing out of the NCAA tournament in the first round and the beloved Indiana Hoosiers enduring a painfully short March Madness run.

DraftKings ruled the roost

DraftKings led the best sportsbooks in Indiana for the second straight month. DraftKings IN accounted for $144.1 million of the $433 million overall March handle. FanDuel inched closer to DraftKings by taking in $136 million but out-earned its rival $16.2 million to $13.4 million.

The two sports betting behemoths combined for an impressive 69.3% market share in the Indiana market.

Caesars was third with a $40.8 million handle and BetMGM took in $40.1 million while showing the most month-over-month growth with a 27.7% improvement from its February performance.

April will be the start of an inevitable and predictable spring/summer sports betting slowdown. Football is over while hoops, which accounted for 50% of the state’s March handle alone is winding down. The Pacers won’t help the state’s overall handle much this year. We'll see if Indiana sportsbooks use promos to continue attracting bettors.

It’s likely baseball from here until September when the NFL provides a huge betting bump. For what its worth, Indiana’s legal sports betting handle dropped $116 million from March to April of last year and a similar drop-off is likely this year.