With a handle of close to $5.3 billion from bets collected, the state ranked behind New York ($9.3 billion) and New Jersey ($6.3 billion). From the total revenue, the proportion that was accrued from gaming revenue rose to $1.89 billion, a new record set in 2022. These figures are in line with the report published by the Illinois General Assembly Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability.
The latest performance has eclipsed what was achieved during the pre-pandemic where the high had been $1.35 billion in 2019. The 38.8% is a substantial improvement which can be traced back to the $611 million generated from Illinois sports betting. The report reflects significant gains at a period when a summer slowdown has caused a drop in the June handle for Illinois gambling businesses.
The performance of the industry in terms of revenue was $628.5 million in June, which is a 17.8% decline from the previous month. In spite of this seemingly decrease in the volume of business, legal sports betting figures from June were up 32% compared to June 2021, a year over year increase facilitated by the conclusion of the state’s in-person registration requirement for internet based sportsbooks in March.
According to the report, it emerges that the rise of popularity of online wagering will create “sufficient opportunities for future growth” which will be fueled by the “expected scaling of additional sportsbooks to brand-new casinos and sports arenas.” Latest data that was recently released by the Illinois Gaming Board are an indication that the state has finally managed to cross the $1 billion mark in sports betting gross gaming revenue 2 years since its launch in March 202; this represents both online and retail wagering.
The other area that Illinois has showcased remarkable improvement is IL sports betting through its number three national ranking. This was in reference to bets made between January and July 2022 amounting to $5.3 billion. In this category, New York managed ($9.3 billion) while New Jersey achieved ($6.3 billion).
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Following the lead of Fairmount Park
There is a great ton of prestige that comes with outperforming the completion and this is the position that Fairmount Park is currently enjoying. With adjusted gross receipts for FY2022 Fairmount Park has leveraged its alliance with FanDuel to set the pace for other players in the industry. Its revenue was $253.3 million in AGR. Next in line was Casino Queen, which is affiliated with DraftKings, at $147.9 million, and then Rivers des Plains (that is associated with BetRivers) at $98.5 million.
In the report, the AGR increase was attributed to the growth of gaming as had been captured by every one of the ten casinos in Illinois. In addition to that, there has been additional profit that was generated by the newly established Hard Rock Casino in Rockford.
Commenting on the rise of casino handles in Illinois, the executive director of the Illinois Casino Gaming Association, Tom Thanas, reported that the effects of the pandemic over the casino industry have been rapidly dying out. It is a fact that casinos, new and old are resuming their earlier operating models as well as introducing more to align with consumer demands.
It appears that many gambling enthusiasts had for a long time been holding back their desire to bet but had to wait till the market returned to normal. The pent up demand is what the market is experiencing in the form of a surge in registration and bet handle. An important aspect of human behavior definitely emerged as a result of the restrictions over the pandemic period; people have an inbuilt desire to step outside and associate with others.
Can Illinois sustain industry growth?
One of the key questions that emerged from the report is whether the state of Illinois is well equipped to handle an expansion of the gambling industry. A couple of mixed signals were projected from the report regarding future growth prospects on the sector with a suggestion that the market could very soon become oversaturated.
New casinos that have an inclination to sports wagering and video gaming are recording impressive revenue handles in the state. Word on the street is that there are new operators that will be opening up betting houses in Waukegan, Danville, Williamson County, the south suburbs of Chicago as well as with Chicago City. The high capacity casino in Chicago is going to be the largest revenue earner in the entire Illinois jurisdiction.
The report concluded that the growth of a competitive gambling market might be the hand that forces smaller players out of the market in favor of the large operators. This is a dire implication to the market as a whole but it offers the disadvantaged lot enough room to polish their strategy and align their offers to what the customer is actually looking for.
It is obvious that there are many entities battling it out for the dollar gain so time will tell whether Illinois will be able to handle the pressure that comes with business expansion within a confined environment. If so, the greatest beneficiaries will be state and local authority coffers where the additional tax remittances will be channeled. If not, then the entire market will be on standby to see who loses and who gains as well as what ultimately happens to those who do not make it.
Speaking of state revenue, it is interesting to see how much state revenue will be generated by the winners and if it is going to be enough to offset the tax lost incurred by the losers operating in this competitive market.
Conclusion
Speaking of losing and winning in business without actually investing time and resources is an exercise in futility. The fact that Illinois is quite new does not give industry experts the best data to predict the future. This is a typical case of trial and error that will form the base on which future players will make business decisions.
