New Jersey sportsbook market leader FanDuel is looking to open two sportsbooks in Indiana where sports betting is now legal.
A daily sports fantasy giant before it entered sports betting, FanDuel has applied to operate sportsbooks at two Indiana Casinos. It plans to offer both retail and online betting as it has done so successfully in NJ
One is the Blue Chip Casino Hotel Spa in Michigan City. The other is the Belterra Casino Resort in Florence. Both are owned by the Boyd Gaming Corporation.
Strategically the two Casinos are positioned at opposite ends of the state close to major sports wagering markets.
The Michigan City Casino is the closest to South Bend, the state’s fourth-largest city and home to college football standout Notre Dame. It’s also located near the border with Michigan which does not allow sports wagering as yet.
Ohio in range of the Belterra Casino in Florence
Belterra, meanwhile, is only an hour’s drive from Cincinnati and Louisville in Ohio. Here too sports -betting is still not legal.
“We’ve had great success partnering Boyd Gaming with the FanDuel sportsbook at Valley Forge Casino Resort in Pennsylvania. We’re optimistic we’ll see similar results in Indiana,” FanDuel is reported to have told Casino.Org Wednesday.
The results FanDuel was referring to? Valley Forge took more than $7.8 million in bets between its mid-March opening and end May. It earned them gross revenue of just over $1m.
Back in New Jersey, which in May surpassed Nevada in betting handle for the first time, FanDuel was largely responsible. It brought in the largest chunk of New Jersey’s $318.9m in betting handle, 80% of it via the internet.
FanDuel’s application to open sportsbooks in Indiana is not expected to be turned down. However, state law will prevent it from operating before September 1.
Along with New Jersey and Philadelphia, FanDuel also has sportsbooks operating in Mississippi and West Virginia. Only in New Jersey, however, does state law allow online sportsbooks.
Indiana could give it a second state with convenient and lucrative mobile betting. Like New York is to New Jersey, Indiana will also attract markets in neighboring states which do not allow sports betting.
And like New Jersey has been doing, this could very well see Indiana join the Garden State as one of the biggest success stories of the US sports betting revolution.
Don’t be too surprised either, if FanDuel is the major driving force behind it.
