Indiana sports betting will get its seventh app this week after Caesars received approval from regulators to launch Tuesday.
Officials from Caesars did not respond to requests to confirm the launch date. But the IN sports betting launch authorization notes May 19 is Caesars’ requested launch date. Scientific Games is powering the sportsbook technology behind the launch,
Indiana is the fourth state for the Caesars Sportsbook app, joining Nevada, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
The app will go live through the Horseshoe Hammond‘s license. All casinos in the state can have three online sports betting partners.
Caesars slow out of the mobile gate
Caesars is taking a slower approach to its mobile sports betting launches than other operators, including market share leaders DraftKings Sportsbook and FanDuel Sportsbook.
That wasn’t true at first. The company was one of the first major sportsbook operators to launch in Nevada in 2017 and launched before the start of the 2018 NFL season in New Jersey.
Its next launch – Pennsylvania – came 18 months later in March 2020.
Two others get Indiana sports betting licenses
The Indiana Gaming Commission also approved licenses for two other operators this month.
First was theScore Bet, which is launching through its market access agreement with Penn National. Next was Unibet, which is partnered with Caesars’ Horseshoe Hammond.
The approvals are just for temporary operator licenses, which is the first step and doesn’t mean a launch is happening anytime soon. Just look at Caesars, which got its approval last August and took more than nine months to launch.
Indiana sports betting struggles without games
Indiana sports betting handle and revenue have both struggled without major sports, like other states.
April’s handle was $26.3 million with $1.6 million in revenue, according to the state’s report. Handle fell 64.8% while revenue dropped 71.6% compared to March, which was disrupted 11 days into the month by sports betting shutdowns because of the coronavirus pandemic.
May could look better than April considering both NASCAR and German soccer league Bundesliga returned to action last weekend.
Indiana regulators authorized a number of fringe sports to give operators something to offer, but couldn’t include esports, which are strictly against the state’s sports betting law.