Illinois Sports Betting Revenue Surpasses $1 Billion Milestone

Since its launch in March 2020, the sports betting industry in Illinois has exceeded $1 billion in gross gaming revenue.

The Illinois Gaming Board released data today revealing the biggest news in the numbers through July. The $1 billion figure is a combination of sports betting revenue from both online and in-person bets at Illinois casinos.

The Illinois gaming industry achieved the remarkable feat of exceeding $1 billion in sports betting revenue just over two and a half years after its inception, greatly benefiting the state’s taxpayers. Since the start of the industry, legal and regulated sportsbooks in Illinois have generated over $167 million in tax revenue for local and state authorities.

Illinois will soon exceed another milestone of $1 billion.

Illinois sports betting will exceed another $1 billion milestone

Play Illinois forecasts that the online sports betting revenue in Illinois will exceed $1 billion in 2022 alone, following the release of August’s figures by the IGB.

It is anticipated that Illinois will surpass Pennsylvania to become third in the nation for both lifetime sports betting revenue and handle, coinciding with the achievement of the billion-dollar milestone.

The ranking for lifetime sports betting revenue is:

New Jersey has $1,960,299,392, Nevada has $1,443,518,000, Pennsylvania has $1,166,775,418, Illinois has $1,059,589,522, and New York has $724,065,120.

The ranking for lifetime sports betting handle is 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

Betting on sports in Illinois is thriving.

Through July, year-to-date figures reveal that Illinois ranks second nationally in sports betting revenues, generating over $388 million. Only New York surpasses this, with revenues exceeding $682 million.

In 2022, Illinois ranks third in sports betting handle with a total bet exceeding $5.2 billion. This is behind New York, with over $9.3 billion bet, and New Jersey, with over $6.3 billion bet.

Online sportsbooks, accounting for 96% of the total wagering volume since the legalization of sports betting in 2020, have driven the growth.

This implies a significant amount of tax revenue. Just this year, sportsbooks in Illinois have produced over $62 million in state and local taxes.

Furthermore, Illinois topped the United States in yearly growth for NFL betting during the opening weekend last week. The betting volume was monitored by geolocation titan, GeoComply. There was a 60% surge in IL sports betting, escalating from a betting volume of 5 million in the first week of the 2021 NFL season to approximately 8 million the previous weekend.

Growth in Illinois tied to online registration

The year-on-year growth in Illinois is largely linked to the legislation permitting residents to register for sportsbooks online. This law was approved in 2021 and became operational on March 5 of this year.

Before, registering for online Illinois sportsbooks necessitated a trip to a physical casino to finish the sign-up process. For some apps, this additional step involved a three-hour drive.

The immediate positive effect on sports betting revenue in Illinois was due to the allowance of online registration.

Sports betting exceeds $50 billion in handle nationwide in 2022

In 2022, through to July, the combined handle of the 26 states that have legalized sports betting has surpassed $50 billion. Within the first seven months of this year, total sports betting revenue in the US has exceeded $3.5 billion.

Over $148 billion has been wagered in the United States since the inception of legal sports betting. The all-time sports betting revenue is nearing the $11 billion mark.