3 Reasons Why Illinois Sports Betting Handle Plateaued In November

The Illinois Gaming Board (IGB) released November sports betting revenue numbers this week. And once again, Illinois set another monthly record for handle.

The Prairie State took in $449.2 million worth of bets in November, up from $434.6 million in October.

However, despite the handle’s growth, it didn’t jump almost as much as it had in the months prior. In contrast, handle increased by about$ 130 million between September and October.

It begs the question,” Why?”

These are three potential explanations.

November has fewer sporting than October.

It’s important to note that Pennsylvania and Nevada, two of the three states with higher monthly tallies than Illinois, saw a decline in manage numbers in November.

Simply put, there weren’t nearly since many activities available for wagering in November as there were in October.

Due to a wacky 2020 sports calendar, the NBA Finals were in October this year. And as usual, the MLB Playoffs ran throughout the entire month.

The NFL and college football were constants in both months, but taking away MLB and NBA likely had an effect.

College basketballIt didn’t begin its period until the 25th of November, though.

As we mentioned earlier, Pennsylvania and Nevada handle numbers declined in November. Other states, such as Indiana, experienced a similar increase (up about $20 million month over month) to Illinois.

Even with fewer activities, it’s amazing that we didn’t see a higher leap because the Indiana business is much more sophisticated than the Illinois business.

Did Illinois suffer as a result of the lack of financial bets?

COVID-19exploded in Illinois in November, and Gov. JB Pritzkershut down all casinos on Nov. 20.

However, casinos were already limiting hours and reducing capacity from 50 % to 25 % before that. In light of Illinois & rsquo’s record-breaking numbers, it may also be possible that customers were more hesitant to visit a casino in the days before November 20.

Online sports bettingis king in Illinois, but a sizeable portion of the regular handle is made up of list.

Retail sportsbooks received$ 24.8 million in wagers in October. That amount decreased to$ 15.5 million in November.

Online handle, in contrast, increased by approximately$ 24 million per month. The last total would have been about$ 26. 5 million,$ 11 million higher than the actual amount, had financial experienced the same progress.

The control would have been around$ 460 million in that scenario. Therefore, even though casino closures did not increase as much as anticipated for the entire reason handle, they undoubtedly had an impact.

a dearth of fresh providers in Illinois

Since the middle of September, Illinois has five online casinos. The majority of businesses have much more than that, including those in New Jersey, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Indiana.

Three more sportsbooks — Barstool, BetMGM and Unibet — are expected to launch within the next few months.

These should stimulate the market, possibly attracting new clients and dispersing special funds, which ought to encourage more wagering.

One more thing …

How much of an advantage the top three operators now have stands out in the most recent income statement.

DraftKings, BetRivers and FanDuel combined to account for 92% of November handle in Illinois, a staggering number.

It & rsquo is typical for FanDuel and DraftKings, but not as much for BetRivers. However, it was Illinois’ second physical and virtual betting.

Additionally, despite DraftKings’ rise to the top of the marketplace, BetRivers continues to generate enormous quarterly profits, posting$ 133.1 million in November.

It’s also curious that PointsBet’s handle dropped by over 50% to just $26.2 million in November. DraftKings, BetRivers, FanDuel and William Hill all increased their totals from October.

Currently, it appears that PointsBet & rsquo’s$ 60.8 million October clip was an anomaly rather than a portent of future events.

PointsBet has prioritized the Illinois market, inking an exclusive sports betting partnership with the Chicago Bears and frequently advertising on the local NBC Sports affiliate.

Its December efficiency will rank among the report’s most intriguing highlights, and its November downturn is interested.