The first January sports betting numbers have started to be announced, and it was a pair of Midwest states that made the first announcement yet again. Both Indiana and Iowa set a new state record for monthly sports betting handle, and it could spell big things for the rest of the United States.
The Indiana sports betting handle for the month of January was $500.1 million, shattering the previous record that was at $463.7 million in November 2021. Mobile sports betting made up $465.5 million of the total, and that was also a new state record.
Iowa sportsbooks posted a total sports betting handle of $303.3 million, which smashed the previous record of around $287 million that was set in November 2021. Iowa is another state that saw a huge amount of betting done online as that handle was a record of $275.8 million.
Indiana and Iowa were the first two states in the Midwest to offer legal sports betting, but this has turned into a hotbed for the industry. Illinois is now the leader in this part of the country, but Michigan isn’t too far behind.
Football Carrying Both Markets
The huge numbers for each state in January are not that surprising, considering the NFL Playoffs were
taking place during that month. The NFL continues to drive legal sports betting, and both states also benefited from professional and college basketball games as well.
Indiana saw a 38 percent jump in gross gaming revenue for the month as well, and the total was $35.5 million. Iowa saw a slight increase of 6.7 percent in the gross gaming revenue as sportsbooks posted a total of $14.2 million.
Indiana iGaming Bills Stall
With the success of online sports betting in Indiana, lawmakers were hoping to expand and launch new iGaming options. There were actually a pair of bills introduced in the House, and there was some optimism that one of these would move forward in the state.
Both of the bills were initially sent to committee, and neither made it out of committee before the deadline. This was just the first step, though, and lawmakers are expected to continue introducing iGaming bills in hopes of getting something to pass.
A recent study suggests that Indiana could bring in more than $500 million in annual revenue if online casino gambling came to the state.
Caesars Sportsbook Leads in Iowa
The state of Iowa might not be one of the biggest online sports betting markets in the United States, but
this state has been able to attract plenty of the top operators. DraftKings, FanDuel, and BetMGM tend to battle it out for the top spot in other markets, but that wasn’t the case in Iowa.
It was Caesars Sportsbooks that posted a total sports betting handle of $112.6 million to lead the way. That figure actually made up more than 40 percent of the total handle, easily putting Caesars Sportsbook at the top of the list.
DraftKings was next on the list with a handle of more than $68 million, while FanDuel came in third at $44.1 million.
