Illinois punters have done it again! The Land of Lincoln became the 4th state to surpass the $1 billion revenue mark based on the top-line numbers recorded by the Illinois Gaming Board for July. According to the board, the state’s sportsbook operators generated a revenue of approximately $46.1 million.
This was the 9th highest total that sportsbooks in Illinois have managed to generate in 27 months of betting since the market made its debut in 2020. The only other states with legal sports betting to reach the $1 billion mark are Pennsylvania, Nevada, and New Jersey. It is worth noting though that the Illinois sports betting market is younger than all these 3 states and was the fastest to surpass the billion-dollar mark.
New Jersey and Nevada both took at least 35 months to reach the billion-dollar mark while Pennsylvania did not get there until 41 months of being in business. New Jersey maintained the number 2 spot for the national handle as traditional wagers in the Land of Lincoln totaled $516.4 million this July. The handle for the completed events, on the other hand, reached $518.6 million.
The handle gap for traditional sports betting between New Jersey and Illinois stood at $15 million. For Illinois, the monthly handle in July was slightly lower by 17.8% compared to the previous month’s handle of $628.5 million. The good news though is that the handle this June was almost 40 percent higher compared to July 2021.
Sports betting operators in Illinois posted a hold of almost 9%, which allowed the state to generate approximately $6.9 million in taxes for July 2022. In general, sports betting has generated taxes worth $58 million this year. This is $14 million more than what was generated in the first 7 months of last year.
According to reports from the Illinois Gaming Board, at least $24 million of operator revenue was generated through bets in Cook County, which acquired $481,000 in tax receipts from all the wagers that were placed within the count. In total, Cook County has received roughly $4.2 million in tax revenue for the first 7 months of 2022.
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Which operators are ruling the revenue table in Illinois?
In July, only 2 mobile sportsbooks managed to generate 9-figure handles namely DraftKings and FanDuel. In particular, FanDuel produced $168.8 million thus topping the revenue table. DraftKings, on the other hand, trailed closely with an impressive handle of $152.2 million.
Both DraftKings and FanDuel accounted for almost two-thirds of the $496.1 million worth of online bets. However, even though BetMGM is the latest entrant to the market, the brand appears to be keeping both FanDuel and DraftKings on their toes. In third came BetRivers which generated $53 million, its lowest handle since July 2020.
BetMGM produced the 5th highest handle with a little under $31 million in revenue while PointsBet generated a slightly higher handle for 4th place at $39 million. The last sportsbooks in the pack were Barstool which generated $26 million and Caesars Sportsbook, which produced $24 million.
All of the state’s 7 mobile sportsbooks generated lower revenues in July 2022, which is to be expected due to the slow sports calendar. Of all the sports bets placed, Parlay bets appeared to rule the show. Revenue generated from parlay wagers accounted for almost half of the combined amount as sportsbooks in the state claimed approximately $21.3 million.
July 2022 was the 5th month in a row that parlay revenue outdid the $20 million mark. Consequently, this is what helped to push the all-time revenue. For online wagers, the 7 sportsbooks in the state generated close to $20 million. FanDuel was the highest revenue generator with $10.7 million.
The state of sports betting in September
The revenue numbers continued to improve this September after a successful record was created in July. In September, wagers from NFL games helped to propel the sports betting market even further thus finally firmly placing Illinois in second place over New Jersey.
According to reports from the Illinois Gaming Board, Prairie State has recorded a gross gaming revenue of more than $536 million since January 2022. That’s close to $19 million more than the Garden State’s revenue of $517 million.
The Empire State still remains the kind of sports betting with more than $928 million wagered by gamblers in the state in September. Owing to the start of the NFL season in September, the month-over-month revenue grew by close to 47% to reach $276 million. Meanwhile, sports betting revenue in September also improved significantly compared to August’s figures.
As a result, sportsbooks in Illinois have now contributed at least $187 million since the market was launched in March 2020. Illinois is now ranked in the top 3 positions as far as tax revenue is concerned just behind New Jersey, which has produced $292 million in taxes, and Pennsylvania, which has generated just over $313 million.
If everything continues to go according to plan, Illinois should easily surpass Pennsylvania soon. In the future, Illinois is hoping to also legalize its iGaming market. If it does, it will join a handful of states in the country that offer full iGaming.
If the state should legalize iGaming, Illinois will no doubt become unstoppable. This year alone, the combined handle in the state has exceeded $63 million and the year still has a few weeks remaining. This means that by the end of 2022, the combined tax revenue for the state also has the potential to hit $1 billion!
Final Thoughts
For all of 2022, experts and analysts believe that Illinois’s total revenue will fall just under the $10 billion mark, which is an impressive feat indeed. This growth is said to be mainly attributed to improved legislation, which took effect in March of this year.
As a result of the legislative change, more and more residents in the state have been signing up for online sportsbooks remotely rather than being forced to visit land-based casinos in person. This wise decision to allow remote registrations with any of the 7 legal sportsbooks is what has contributed to the ongoing boon.
