A recent study commissioned by the Indiana Gaming Commission to study the impact of online casino gambling in Indiana on the state’s retail casinos revealed that there would be little or no consequences to the current land-based gaming operations.
Study No. 1
Indiana legislators have been mulling online casinos for a few years, having commissioned Spectrum Gaming to conduct a study on the impact of iGaming on the land-based casinos currently operating in the Hoosier State two years ago.
The first study summed up the findings as follows:
“Based on the evidence from the states where iGaming has been introduced, there is little, if any, cannibalization of revenue from established casinos. This is particularly true in states where in-person gaming options are easily accessible to most of the population, such as in Delaware and West Virginia.
Based on the results in other iGaming states, Spectrum believes implementing iGaming in Indiana will have little impact on retail casino gaming revenues in the state.”
New Opportunities
Moreover, the study also noted live online gaming using humans as opposed to digital dealers, would bolster the economy by creating hundreds of new jobs, assuming the studios were located within state lines.
“Based on results in other states, live-dealer iGaming in Indiana could create many hundreds of jobs through the employment of dealers in purpose-built studios for this segment of gaming.
The significant economic impacts of live-dealer gaming can be realized if the studios are situated in the host state, as is required in four of the five current live-dealer iGaming states,” the study concluded.
Running It Back
In an abundance of caution, the Indiana Gaming Commission utilized the services of the same company, Spectrum Gaming, to cover much of the same ground as before just in case any alterations in the gaming landscape would negate or compromise the previous findings.
Yet, once again, the findings of the new report revealed virtually no deleterious effects on Indiana’s land-based casinos if iGaming was enacted in the state. The four gaming sectors analyzed were the following:
- Retail casinos
- Digital sports betting
- The lottery
- Horse racing
Spectrum Gaming based its results on the metrics from the six U.S. states that currently offer online casino gambling including Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
The commission wanted to know if any of the four sectors above would be adversely affected by online casino gaming and the results proved to be non-threatening to all parties concerned.
Spectrum Gaming noted the following in its report.
“Based on our analysis of iGaming in other states, iGaming does not appear to have a negative effect on other forms of gaming. That said, the iGaming results to date in other iGaming states suggest that it is possible that iGaming may be limiting the ordinary growth of retail casino revenues.”
“Based on the results in other iGaming states, Spectrum believes implementing iGaming in Indiana will have little impact on retail casino gaming revenues in the state,” the report concluded.
What About Sports Betting?
As for the effect on mobile sports betting, because many of the platform providers offer both sports betting and digital casino gambling, there would be more synergy than unwanted competition.
Spectrum noted the following:
“Based on the results in other states, Spectrum believes that the introduction of iGaming would have no negative impact on sports betting. If anything, iGaming would help to increase sports betting revenues, as both activities are typically offered on the same mobile app, thus promoting crossover play between the two types of gaming.”
In the event Indiana proposes legislation to launch mobile casino gambling, OddsTrader will update our readers as those events unfold.
