How Illinois Residents Wagered $5 Billion on Online Sports Betting Since Legalization

Not since December 2020 have wagers at Illinois sportsbooks dropped below $500 million, but they did in June. Despite that, June revenue surged. The surge was likely due to the sluggish summer sports calendar, while the drop in handle was likely due to the state’s in-person registration requirements.

In spite of the ups and downs, Illinois reached the $5 billion mark in the total amount gambled faster than any state in history.

Illinois on Top of the Sports Betting Market

Retail and online sportsbooks raked in a combined $476.5 million in bets during June. That was down more than 6%compared to May’s $507.3 million. That’s the lowest since November 2020, when Illinois sportsbooks took in $449.2 million.

However, Illinois sportsbooks are following the same trends as the markets in most states. Fortunately, sportsbooks across the country only have a few weeks before the huge fall sports calendar kicks in.

While June seemed like a bad month, it put Illinois in third place, right behind New Jersey and Nevada. New Jersey raked in a cool $766.9 million, while Nevada took in $545.5 million. Pennsylvania came in fourth place with $420.2 million.

June pushed Illinois’ lifetime total past $5 billion in just 16 months, smashing New Jersey’s record of 18 months.

It’s Been a Crazy Year in Illinois

For one thing, Governor Pritzker’s back-and-forth with in-person registration created some confusion and havoc. Secondly, the seemingly never-ending COVID restrictions put a damper on visits to casinos, racetracks, and retail sportsbooks. But despite all that, Illinois sports bettors remained enthusiastic, quickly putting the state third behind gambling giants Nevada and New Jersey.

A legislative fix to the in-person registration dilemma has passed the state legislature; it’s just waiting to be signed into law by the governor. However, that will not go into effect until an online operator pays $20 million for a license by December. Otherwise, in-person registration could become permanent.

Hopefully, legislators will lower the price of an online-only sportsbook license to make it more attractive to operators. Alternatively, they could change the text so that online registration is not tied to online-only licenses.

How the Numbers Played Out Over the Summer

Gross gaming revenue in Illinois rose in May by 31.8% from $36.6 million to $48.2 million. That’s the third-best month in state revenue history.

Gross sports betting revenue in July yielded $47.5 million in net revenue. That filled state and local tax coffers with $7.7 million.

The top producing sport was basketball, attracting $126.9 million in wagers. Baseball came in a narrow second, with $126.7 million in bets. Finally, tennis wagers jumped to a respectable $40.3 million in July, compared to $32.6 million in bets during May.

Parlay bets gained in popularity, surging to $101.1 million, and producing $22.8 million in revenue.

Close to 95% of June’s $451.7 million in sports bets were placed online. Leading the market is the DraftKings sportsbook at the Casino Queen in East St. Louis. The Illinois market leader raked in $160.2 million in combined retail and online bets. That number breaks down as $157.1 million in online bets and $14.0 million in gross revenue. However, that’s down from DraftKing’s $170.1 million in May.

Coming in second is FanDuel; the company’s retail and online sportsbooks raked in $156.3 million in wagers during June. That was nearly the same amount as May’s $155.3 million. Despite less handle compared to DraftKings, FanDuel came out on top with $20.3 million in gross revenue.

BetRivers claimed third place with $71 million in handle and over $6 million in revenue. Illinois’ first sportsbook also did well with parlay bets, with a 20.4% win rate generating over $1.2 million.

PointsBet New to the Illinois Market

Having just entered the Illinois market in September, PointsBet hasn’t had time to generate any documented numbers. PointsBet’s retail location is at the Hawthorne Race Course in Stickney, for bettors to register in person.

While late to the game, PointBet’s launch is just in time to take advantage of the NFL and college football season.

What makes the sportsbook unique is points betting; a bettor can wager on an over-under type of prop bet, either winning or losing a multiplier of their bet. For example, you can bet $20 on Matt Nagy of the Chicago Bears to throw more than 200 yards in a game. For every yard Nagy goes over, you’d win a multiple of your wager. But, let’s say if he only throws 150 yards, you begin to lose money. It’s a fun way to bet on the game, and unique to PointsBet.