Illinois sportsbooks are taking over the sports betting market in the country. Ever since the Prairie State legalized sports betting in March 2020, the sports betting market has been growing from strength to strength. Despite having a slow initial rollout and facing pandemic-related issues, Illinois sportsbooks ended 2021 with a handle of almost $800 million in December.
December was the third straight month that the state had managed to generate a handle of $780 million or higher, which allowed the state to record nearly $40 million in revenue. As a result of this great performance, Illinois is now slated to be one of the most successful sports betting markets in North America. At present, the state is ranked 3rd in the betting market with almost $7 billion in wagers under its belt.
This performance has been extremely impressive, given that the market is still relatively young. Many of the limitations that had been imposed in the market, such as in-person registration, will be eradicated this year, which will position the state for even better results.
Based on reports shared by PlayIllinois, which is responsible for tracking regulated online gaming and sports wagering in the state, sportsbooks accepted $789.6 million in wager in December 2021, which was a rise of 60.6% year over year and the second-highest revenue that the state has ever produced. During the same period in December 2020, the state had produced $491.7 million.
In December 2021, online betting accounted for 95% of all bets placed. The state’s sportsbooks generated $789.6 million in online and retail bets. In total, the betting volume for the days in December averaged approximately $25 million each day, which was a slight drop from November’s average of $26 million daily. Despite in-person registration requirements still mandated in the state, the state still managed to pull off a triple wagering volume year over year, which is a significant achievement, to say the least.
In 2021, Illinois managed to generate $7.02 billion in bets, which was a 273% increase compared to the $1.9 billion produced in the previous year. The only other states to beat Illinois were New Jersey, which generated $10.9 billion, and Nevada, which only beat Illinois by a slight margin when it produced $ 7.1 billion in online wagers.
Football managed to generate the most wagers in December; punters wagered $265.7 million compared to November’s $257.1fsportsm. In terms of operators, DraftKings and partner Casino Queen topped the table with $295 million in the combined handle. FanDuel followed closely with $232.2 million in bets, a rise from November’s $216.2m, which consequently yielded the state’s best gross revenue of $13.9m.
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The Last 3 Months of the Year Were Great for the State
December’s impressive handle was an extension of November’s performance. The state saw an impressive $779,853,367 bet among legal Illinois sportsbooks. Sportsbooks generated a revenue of $78,227,189 while the state took in $12,693,515 in tax money. This was the first time that the national monthly sports betting handle had crossed $ 5 billion ever since PASPA was repealed by the Supreme Court in 2018.
November’s revenue of $78 million shattered the previous state record of $48 million by more than 60%. The previous record had been set just a month before in October. This revenue total was the 6th largest total of the post PASPA era. In November, Illinois’ performance was so good that the state was ranked 3rd just behind New Jersey and Pennsylvania. It was the 4th state to exceed $70 million.
In October, the state set a record when the Illinois Gaming Board reported that sportsbooks in the state had managed to generate $840 million, which was a boost of 40% from September’s $596 million handle. Illinois checked $48.3 million in sportsbook revenue and collected another $8.4 million in taxes.
Since sports betting was legalized in Illinois, the state has managed to land in between 2nd and 4th place in the revenue table for all of last year. Nevada and Pennsylvania have also been tussling for the top position behind the Garden State, which has managed to remain at the top of the table ever since it became the first to legalize sports wagering in the country.
In September 2021, New Jersey became the first state to surpass 1 billion in sports betting, which set a trend for other states like Illinois to follow.
It’s All the Other States vs. New York
But New Jersey’s and Illinois’ position at the top of the revenue table is now under threat ever since New York legislators gave the green for the legalization of that market. New York started accepting online sports bets this January 2022, but the state’s legislators permitted mobile sports betting in April. In Just the first 2 weekends that mobile wagers were offered, New York had already surpassed New Jersey for position 1 in the sports betting market.
Since mobile sports betting started on January 8th, 2021, more than 1.2 million sports betting accounts have been created in the Empire State, and the number continues to grow as more operators join the market. The momentum that New York has been experiencing is homegrown as locals have since dumped offshore and illegal sportsbooks in favor of legal ones.
The growth of the New York sports betting market has been explosive and is so far off to the most successful launch of any of the available markets in terms of handle. Along with boasting the largest population of any state that enjoys legal sports betting, New York is one of the only states that also enjoys access to all the major sports teams and leagues. In short, the Empire State was literally designed for sports betting success.
