Illinois retail Casinos enjoyed a strong performance in 2021 despite the setbacks that were suffered in 2019 and 2020 due to the pandemic. According to data shared by the Illinois Gaming Control Board, retail casinos in the state generated a total of $1,187,308,323 from guests throughout the year, which is a testament to the growth that the industry has experienced.
The state boasts 11 casinos that admitted 7,684,535 combined guests in 2021. From these guests, the retail casinos produced $296,763,261 from table games while $890,545,062 was spawned from the machines. Out of this amount, the state walked away with $248,688,721 while the local authorities bagged a stake valued at $67,022,120.
The biggest revenue generator in the state was The Grand Victoria Casino, which produced $143,262,740 in total earnings. Additionally, retail brick-and-mortar casinos, as well as their respective associates made $70 million from sports betting. Chicagoland, which consists of casinos located in Northwest Indiana, produced $1.12 billion in gaming revenue in 2020 while the Baltimore-Washington DC casino market, which is rivaled only by Las Vegas and Atlantic City, produced $1.31 billion in gaming gains in 2020.
Based on data that was shared by the American Gaming Association, casinos in the state managed to produce $743,407,000 from punters in 2020 and $1,354,404,565 in 2019, when the pandemic was at its height. Indeed, the outbreak could not have come at a worse time for casinos in the state, which was already struggling to catch up to more established gambling empires in New Jersey and Vegas.
It did not help things much that the outbreak also coincided with the debut of Illinois’s nascent sports betting industry, a development that casinos had been eagerly waiting for. State officials who had been looking forward to the millions that they would have generated in tax revenue from the brand new sportsbooks were also forced to adjust their expectations.
The pandemic put a hold on any forecasts that had been made, bringing to a halt a long-awaited sports betting market in its tracks and stamping out any chances of catching up to industry greats. In spite of these hindrances, casinos in the state have managed to emerge from one of the darkest periods in its history. These numbers are proof that the market has experienced massive upward growth in 2 years and the results are expected to persist as the market continues to become increasingly saturated.
December revenue was already showing promise. According to data shared by the Illinois Gaming Board, the state produced an excess of $1 billion in betting revenue from a wide array of verticals including brick and mortar casinos, video gaming, online casinos, as well as sports betting. Still, the $1 billion in gambling revenue is still much lower than officials predicted 2 and a half years ago (June 2019), which is when a major betting expansion law authorized the construction of 6 new casinos.
Of the 6 casinos that were authorized, only 1 casino managed to open a temporary location at the beginning of November- the Hard Rock Casino Rockford. In December, gaming regulators in the state proceeded with projects that will see casinos placed in suburbs. A winning bid for a retail casino expected in Waukegan was finally selected that will allow developers to start in 2022.
The gambling-expansion law also authorized a casino to be allotted to the south suburbs. The gaming board picked a proposal that would construct a casino in Homewood, as well as East Hazel Crest, which are both located 10 minutes away from the border of Indiana. Being closely situated to the border will further help to boost revenue from the state’s casinos as it will help to attract those user dollars into Illinois.
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Sports betting has also experienced remarkable growth
The sports betting industry in Illinois has been growing from strength to strength since it was launched. Case in point, In November 2021, the state shattered its record with $779.8 million in total wagers producing $78.2 million in revenue based on data that was shared by the Illinois Gaming Board. This was the first time that the state had surpassed the $50 million revenue mark.
This is a strong indicator that the growth of the sports betting market in the state has only just started. In fact, trends suggest that further growth should be expected on the horizon. Illinois has plans to suspend its ongoing in-person registration requirement for sportsbooks in March 2022, which will surely open up the market to a wide array of individuals and punters that currently lack access.
The added ease and convenience of not being forced to drive multiple hours just to register and set up an account with a specific sportsbook of choice will no doubt help to boost growth in the state. The state’s gaming board has split up its wagers into 2 main categories; one includes bets on final match results, which consists of the spread or money line while the second category includes prop wagers or the over/under variety.
According to data shared by the board, the first category represents the highest total wagers generated. Parlays have and will likely continue to be the most profitable type of wager for sportsbooks in the future, with football emerging as the most wagered on the sport. Despite the cumbersome in-person registration prerequisite, online sports wagering far outpaces retail sports betting in the state- a situation that will likely carry on moving forward.
So what’s next for the state?
Governor JB Pritzker has already signed legislation that will see the in-person registration end, which will more than likely boost further growth in the sports wagering market. In addition, the new legislation will also allow punters in the state to place bets on in-house state colleges, which will ensure more growth.
Before the year came to an end, the Chicago City Council also voted to allow professional sports stadiums to debut their own sportsbooks. This effectively means that professional sports teams like the Chicago Cubs will soon debut their branded sportsbooks, which should delight sports lovers in the state.
