Despite not having games for a chunk of this year, sports betting has done well in Indiana.

Blue Chip brought in Bears hall of famer Brian Urlacher to make the first bet there last year. Since then, it's taken off more than the casino even imagined.

Week Two of the NFL, Burrow versus Baker.

"I have Burrow," said avid sports better Bob Hugus. "I thought he looked pretty good in his first game in his NFL career and I don't have much faith in Cleveland still."

Bob Hugus says you can usually find him once a week there placing a bet.

"I'm a huge sports fan and I'm gonna sit at home and watch most of baseball, football, and college basketball games, so I enjoy having a little action on it," said Hugus.

Blue Chip Casino Vice President Brenda Temple says the addition of sports betting was huge for the state.

"Indiana as a whole reached the $1 billion mark in wagering and that's with being closed for three months."

During a time where there were no major sports, Temple says they still found ways.

"We had people betting on ping pong in New Zealand."

A big part of the success is due to mobile wagering. But now, in the heart of championship races and football returning, she says betting is booming.

"Our betting in August is double what we saw in July. So the appetite for betting and the guests' use of mobile wagering and live betting that we have here with our FanDuel Sportsbook, there is definitely an appetite and it seems to continue to grow."

"There's a lot of pent up demand for gambling and everybody kind of wants to go to the casinos and Sportsbook when it came back," said Barry O'Brien. "So with pretty much four or five sports coming back at the same time, they're going to have a good handle."
 

With sports back, Temple says she expects betting to continue to exceed their expectations.

"Our Sportsbook here in Michigan City, Indiana was exceeding the company as far as mobile wagering and live wagering and that's including all of our properties in Las Vegas," said Temple.

Temple says the mobile wagering really has been the driving force with parts of the casino still closed.

She says it's about 80% of betters choosing that route, which she expects to continue.

https://wsbt.com/news/local/despite-months-without-sports-indiana-sports-betting-reaches-1-billion-mark