The NCAA Tournament helped Indiana’s sportsbooks bounce back from February’s slowdown, reaching the highest handle yet in a month without NFL football.
With March Madness in full swing, bettors poured $476.8 million in wagers into Indiana’s online and retail sportsbooks, producing $32.8 million in gross revenue for the state’s operators. That injected $3.1 million into state and local coffers.
Year-over-year, handle was up 50.5% from $316.7 million, and operator revenue was up 19.6% from $26.4 million. Wagers were also up 16.5% from $409.1 million in February, and revenue was up 46.4% from $22.4 million.
Basketball, which includes bets on the NBA as well as men’s and women’s college basketball, was clearly the driver for the increase in wagering. In March, $274.1 million were wagered on basketball, up from $160.7 million in March 2021 and up from $201.9 million in February 2022.