Illinois Sports Betting Revenue Surpasses $1 Billion Milestone

The Illinois sports betting industry has surpassed $1 billion in gross gaming revenue since it launched in March 2020.

That’s the biggest news in the numbers, through July, released today by the Illinois Gaming Board. The $1 billion figure combines sports betting revenue both online and in-person at Illinois casinos.

Exceeding $1 billion in sports betting revenue a little over two-and-a-half years after the market launched is an incredible achievement for the Illinois gaming industry and a boon to the state’s taxpayers. Legal, regulated Illinois sportsbooks have produced over $167 million in tax revenue to state and local authorities in the state since the industry launched.

And Illinois will soon surpass another $1 billion milestone.

Illinois sports betting will exceed another $1 billion milestone

Play Illinois is predicting online sports betting revenue in Illinois alone will surpass $1 billion just in 2022 when the IGB releases numbers for August.

That billion-dollar milestone is expected to coincide with Illinois zooming past Pennsylvania into third place in the nation in both lifetime sports betting revenue and handle.

Lifetime sports betting revenue ranking is:

1. New Jersey — $1,960,299,392
2. Nevada — $1,443,518,000
3. Pennsylvania — $1,166,775,418
4. Illinois — $1,059,589,522
5. New York — $724,065,120

Lifetime sports betting handle ranks as follows:

1. New Jersey — $29,084,089,417
2. Nevada — $25,560,689,676
3. Pennsylvania — $15,542,662,210
4. Illinois — $14,171,227,163
5. New York — $9,756,993,980

Sports betting in Illinois has shown incredible growth

Sports betting in IL is booming.

Year-to-date numbers through July shows Illinois sports betting ranks solidly in second place in the nation with revenue of more than $388 million. Only New York is higher with revenue of more than $682 million.

Illinois is third in sports betting handle in 2022 with over $5.2 billion bet. That falls behind New York (over $9.3 billion) and New Jersey (over $6.3 billion).

The growth has been driven by online sportsbooks. They account for 96% of the total wagering volume since sports betting was legalized in 2020.

That means a lot of tax dollars. In this year alone, IL sportsbooks have generated over $62 million in state and local taxes.

Also, last week, Illinois led the United States in year-over-year growth in NFL betting on opening weekend. Geolocation giant GeoComply tracked the betting volume. IL sports betting jumped 60% from betting volume of 5 million on Week 1 of the 2021 NFL season to some 8 million this past weekend.

Growth in Illinois tied to online registration

The year-over-year growth in Illinois is tied most to legislation allowing residents to sign-up for sportsbooks online. That legislation was passed in 2021 and came into effect on March 5 of this year.

Prior to that, signing up for online Illinois sportsbooks meant driving to a physical casino to complete the registration process. That extra step, required a three-hour drive for certain apps.

Allowing online registration had an immediate positive impact on sports betting revenue in Illinois.

Sports betting exceeds $50 billion in handle nationwide in 2022

This year, the 26 states that have legal sports betting have produced combined handle exceeding $50 billion through July. Total US sports betting revenue is more than $3.5 billion through the first seven months of 2022.

Since the dawn of legal sports betting, over $148 billion has been bet in the United States. All-time sports betting revenue is on the cusp of hitting $11 billion.