DraftKings Launches Digital Sportsbook in Indiana

This week has been one of the most eventful ones in the global gambling industry and DraftKings is one of the stakeholders that has reaped a lot from it. The company’s efforts to expand its presence in the United States have been paying off quite decently thanks to a number of lucrative partnerships as well as approvals from various regulators.

The most recent development was seen in Indiana where it became known that the daily fantasy sports provider turned sports betting operator will go live with a digital sports betting offering. This amazing news was announced on October 2 by the Indiana Gaming Commission. Having received the approval of the gambling regulator DraftKings will be entering the state legal and regulated gambling space though a partnership deal that it recently signed with Penn National Gaming which operates East Chicago’s Ameristar Casino.

Indiana was the tenth state in the country to legalize sports betting following the May 2018 abolishment of PASPA by the United States Supreme Court. Now that the state has both retail and state-wide mobile betting options, bettors can place bets on their favorite sports and teams from anywhere within Indiana borders. Even though online sports betting operations are just beginning to take off, the retail sports betting space in the Hoosier state has grown immensely since it was legalized. Currently, there are a total of 13 land-based sports betting facilities operating in the state.

The Competition

DraftKings will be competing against Rush Street Interactive and French Lick Casino which were the first operators to launch mobile sports betting operations in the state. More digital betting options are expected to debut in the state in the near future as the land-based operators are reportedly preparing for such developments.

For now, the state’s residents have to register at the physical sportsbooks in order to be able to place bets online. While this requirement is put in place mostly to make gambling safer, we hope better mechanisms will be put in place to make it more convenient.

DraftKings’ Plans for Pennsylvania

Now that DraftKings has secured a spot among the licensed operators in Indiana, it is reportedly getting ready to extend its operations to Pennsylvania. The Keystone State was an obvious choice for the operator in its country-wide expansion plan and this is simply because the state has one of the fastest-growing sports betting markets. Moreover, the state is one of the most populous in the country which further proves the massive potential of its gaming market.

Once DraftKings is approved by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) it will launch its online and mobile wagering operations which will be in partnership with Penn National Gaming.