The Illinois sports betting industry was off to a great start and the momentum has not worn off yet; the market will continue to witness an unabated wave of growth. Within a short time after becoming a legalized market, Illinois has grown to be the second-biggest sports betting market in the United States, even surpassing New Jersey. This analysis is based on figures provided by the Illinois Gaming Board for the month of August.
The rise of Illinois to the top is proof that there is no guaranteed revenue for anybody; success in the betting industry depends on effort and how well a brand connects to its customers. New Jersey is still riding the high horse but without a change of strategy, success in the Garden City might soon be history.
In August, the Prairie State managed to accumulate a revenue handle of close to $565 million, which is 8 million in excess of what the Garden State raked in. New York is the nation’s leading state having managed to pile up a revenue heap of over $877 million through August. When the year-over-year revenue figures are compared, it emerges that the current performance for Illinois is a 41% increase from what was achieved last year.
Of great importance, for the people of Illinois is the fact that the local authorities are now having an easy time funding their budget. The legal and regulated sportsbooks in the state have in the past 2 and a half years managed to pay taxes amounting to $175 million. The market was launched in March 2020 and it has been a gradual climb in revenue since then. In 2022, for the first 8 months alone, tax revenue paid reached close to $70 million.
For the Year-to-date performance, the sportsbooks of Illinois came in third position in gross gaming revenue (nearly $453 million) behind NJ ($517 million) and NY (over $926 million). As of a few weeks ago, the September figures for New York and New Jersey had already been released. At the national level, Illinois ranked at position three with more than $5.8 billion in the year-to-date performance. For the same period, New Jersey managed $7.7 billion while New York reported $11.5 billion.
What we cover
The performance of Illinois online sportsbooks
In the month of August, the state of Illinois surpassed a significant milestone in the Illinois sports betting sector. The Prairie State has exceeded $1 billion in gross gaming bet collections from online activity from sports betting only 29 months since it was launched. One month before that, July’s figures revealed that the gross betting revenue from IL sportsbooks — counting physical and online sports betting together — had surpassed $1 billion lifetime.
The business environment in Illinois is conducive to the success of the gambling industry – stakeholders attribute the favorable conditions to a change in legislation. During the first quarter of 2022, the state law was amended to allow for the setup and operation of online sportsbooks in the Prairie State. Before that, the residents of Illinois could only sign up to sportsbooks in one of the land-based casinos in the state. By choosing to make it easier for gambling enthusiasts in the state, the market went on to experience a sudden boom. There are currently seven sportsbooks operating legally in Illinois and all of them support online registration.
Looking back at the financials from past months, it is evident that the modern casino player is finding it appealing to place bets online as opposed to in a physical gambling establishment. From the total revenue so far collected from Illinois gambling, 94% of IL sports bets have been made online. This is from the total revenue of $1,124,218,121 that has so far been collected from sportsbooks around the state. Out of this figure, the online bet total is $1,057,603,575; the rest of the money, a little over $66 million, has been collected from physical betting premises.
This success has caught the attention of major sportsbook brands and it is no wonder that there is an influx of operators seeking licenses to operate in Illinois. Clearly, the future looks bright for the industry and this means more jobs and opportunities for the residents. The Prairie State is on the verge of surpassing Pennsylvania and taking up third place in terms of lifetime accumulated sports betting revenue.
Lifetime revenue ranking
The momentum with which the New Jersey market is the main reason the state performs really well and surpasses expectations. The Garden State ranks at first place followed by Nevada and then Pennsylvania. Illinois is currently at position four while New York is hanging onto position five. Of all the betting options that exist in the industry today, sports’ betting tops them all. The lifetime handle for 2022 has so far reached and exceeded the $60 billion mark.
2022 has been a rather vibrant year because the 26 states that permit legal sports betting have produced combined handles exceeding $60 billion. There are states have already declared their earnings for September. From the time when sports’ betting was unveiled in the United States, more than $157 billion has been placed as bet in the United States. All-time sports betting revenue is on the road to hitting $12 billion.
Final Thoughts
Since the gambling industry was legalized in Illinois, the amount of tax revenue so far paid out from the different sectors has summed up to $175 million. This is a great benefit to the local government because funds for running various projects under their jurisdiction have always flowed to meet their demand. When a betting company pays its taxes, the funds are channeled into a Sports Wagering Fund from where they are tallying and allocated to different purposes. Every month on the 25th, all funds present in that account are considered to be excesses and are forwarded to the Capital Projects Fund.
