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Indiana cashing in on sports betting

Indiana cashes in on sports betting

News 8's Richard Essex reports

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – If you can watch it, listen to it or find the score online, you can likely bet on it here in Indiana. Every morning there is a line of potential sports gamblers lined up at the front door of the Winner’s Circle downtown.

Brad Baldini, Winner’s Circle general manager, says on the weekend there is a steady stream of people, some waiting hours to bet.

“Sunday before the 1:00 (NFL) game, the line will be through the restaurant, out the door and up Pennsylvania,” said Baldini.

The newness of the place is still present at Winner’s Circle. This is not the sports betting parlor cloaked in darkness and hidden down a back alley. The curtains are open, the sunshine comes through the glass and the money flows freely.

“With hundreds in line at a time, and that line sometimes goes from 11 a.m. until 7, 8, 9 at night. Some days it is nonstop,” Baldini added.

Bets are still made the old-fashioned way: over the counter. The odds and the games are constantly updated and displayed in real time on digital monitors.

Brian Owens of Shelbyville says he puts $100 on every game he bets.

“It is hit and miss,” Owens said. “One week I’m a genius, the next I can’t spell NFL if I was spotted the ‘F’ and the ‘L.’”

Owens says during the first month of betting he is down $100.

“I will pick maybe two games, three games in some cases. Some of them I win, some of them I lose,” said Owens.

Regardless of how much anyone wins, the state of Indiana collects. The state charges the owners of sport wagering or gambling facilities $100,000 for a permit and a $50,000 renewal fee every year thereafter. Plus, the state taxes the gross adjusted income of those facilities at 9.5%.

On the tenth of every month, the state posts the revenue from all Indiana casinos, which means October 10, we will find out how much the first 30 days of sports betting has paid off.