Illinois got rid of its in-person registration requirement early this month and it appears to be bearing fruit. According to the Illinois Gaming Board’s financial report, which is released every month, Illinois’s monthly handle rose to almost $870 million. This was the first time in the market’s history to record such an impressive monthly sports betting handle.
Before the 5th of March, residents of Illinois were required to avail themselves in person, at a brick and mortar sportsbook before they were allowed to bet online. As you can imagine, not many people were willing to make the often inconvenient journey just to register for an online account. Now that the in-person requirement has been done away with, online betting has never been more accessible to punters in Illinois.
Since sports betting was legalized in the state, it has continued to gain popularity all over the state. And with in-person registration now eliminated, the Illinois sports betting market has been ushered into a new era. According to experts, the state could grow to become the second-largest sports betting market in 2022.
The sports calendar has been especially fruitful during the first 3 months of 2022. That’s owing to the extended NFL regular season, as well as its expanded playoffs, which have been taking part over the last 5 weekends. As a result of these exciting activities and events, sportsbooks in Illinois managed to generate $867.5 million in online, as well as retail bets in January.
This was a new record, beating the previous set in October of $840 million. In January, the handle improved by more than 9% compared to the 789.6 million that was produced in December. This was also an increase of almost 50% compared to the $581.6 million that the state’s sportsbooks generated in January last year.
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A Closer Look at Illinois’ January Handle
Overall, the wagering volume in January this year rose to reach $28 million for each day in January compared to the $25.5 million betting volume in December. In January, there was also plenty of basketball action for punters to choose from, which greatly helped to boost the volume. The official revenue reported for January stood at $867.5 million.
As you can expect, online wagering accounted for 96 percent of the overall eagers placed, or $829 million. During the first month of the year, the NFL remained the top choice for sports bettors to wager on, which resulted in $224 million placed in total. The NFL did sportsbooks in Illinois (and all over the country) a massive favor when they decided to expand its regular season and playoff schedule.
Those additional few games in the schedule helped to greatly top the monthly handle in January. Out of all the operators in the state, DraftKings generated the most revenue in the state boasting $293.2 million in total online and brick-and-mortar handle. In total, DraftKings made $283.7 million in online bets, which consequently led to $17.2 million in gross revenue.
FanDuel occupied second place in the revenue table, managing to produce $261.2 million in online and brick and mortar wagers with $259.1 million produced in online bets. As a result, FanDuel yielded a gross revenue worth $23 million. Football wagering generated $224.1 million in bets, which was a drop from the $265.7 million produced in December.
In total, the Illinois Board estimates an excess of $60 million in Super Bowl-related bets. Basketball wagers also saw an increase this year, managing to produce $276.2 million this January. This was a boost from the $226.4 million that was produced in December. BetMGM recently debuted in the market but the brand is hopeful that it will catch up with the existing operators.
FanDuel and DraftKings were not the only brands raking it in this January. BetRivers also saw a significant improvement in its revenue. BetRivers celebrated an increase of 16.5% to boast a new record in monthly revenue of $135.8 million. PointsBet, alternatively, boasted the highest month-over-month percentage growth as it recorded a monthly handle of $74.5 million.
PointsBet’s handle was an improvement of 54.6% compared to its handle in December. Barstool Sports, also posted an increase of more than 13 percent, managing to produce an excess of $60 million for the 3rd time in 4 months. Caesars also grew by almost 10% to attain $15 million in revenue.
Unfortunately, Caesars was the only mobile operator in Illinois to post the biggest loss in a single month. This was the third time that the Caesars brand has posted losses since it debuted in the market more than 17 months ago. As far as sports wagers are concerned, parlay wagers accounted for the majority of the total wagers placed-$33.5 million to be exact. Surprisingly, tennis also contributed a little under $3.3 million to the total handle in the state.
What About Retail Casinos?
Retail casinos have also benefited immensely from the legal sports betting market but not all brick and mortar establishments appear to be winning. Case in point, the Casino Queen, situated in East St. Louis appears to be struggling. The retail location is allied with DraftKings and it paid out an excess of $1 million compared to the $5.8 million in football bets it accepted.
This subsequently led to a loss of $445,588. This was the biggest recorded loss for any brick and mortar sportsbook since sports betting was launched in the market. This amount was also more than double what was lost in December 2021 by the Grand Victoria Casino. Despite the glaring loss, Casino Queen did manage to break its all-time monthly handle when it generated an excess of $9.5 million.
Final Thoughts
The state has demonstrated great momentum in the last 4 months and now that the in-person registration prerequisites have been removed for punters, the numbers should continue to improve moving forward. The first 2 years of legal sports betting in Illinois were quite rocky owing to the pandemic.
Despite the challenges that the Illinois sports betting market has endured, the sportsbooks in the state have continued to thrive. Ideally, the recent changes in registration will certainly help to expand the market, while also fostering competition, which will ensure further growth.
