March Madness Drives Illinois Sports Betting To Record Month, 2nd In The Nation

March’s record-breaking sports betting month in Illinois is credited to heavy betting on the men’s and women’s March Madness tournaments.

The Illinois Gaming Board today revealed that sportsbooks in Illinois recorded over $1 billion in total bets in March. This marks the fifth time in the last six months that the state has exceeded $1 billion. The precise handle of $1,072,701,361 marginally surpassed the previous monthly record of $1,070,033,292 set in January 2023.

The totals for March boosted Illinois to the second position nationally in terms of total bets for that month and revenue.

In March, Illinois was the second state with the highest total handle in the US, trailing only New York which had nearly $1.8 million bet. New Jersey followed in third place, with a total handle of $1,025,779,225.

Illinois generated nearly $107.5 million in revenue, only being surpassed by New York which garnered more than $163.5 million.

In March, Illinois collected over $15.6 million in sports betting taxes, ranking it third nationwide. Leading the nation was New York, with tax collections exceeding $83 million. Pennsylvania came second, with its sports betting tax collections surpassing $18.2 million. It’s worth noting that the effective tax rate on sports betting is 50.8% in New York, 27.4% in Pennsylvania, and 14.6% in Illinois.

March Madness was a huge factor in sports betting in Illinois

The Illinois Gaming Board (IGB) did not disclose specific betting figures for this year’s March Madness. However, they revealed that in 2022, Illinois residents placed bets totaling $286.2 million on the NCAA men’s and women’s tournaments.

The difference in handle between February and March in Illinois can be attributed to a similar amount of wagering on this year’s NCAA tourneys. In February, the only NFL event was the Super Bowl, which contributed to Illinois sportsbooks registering a handle of $875.4 million. However, when you add the March Madness tournament bets and subtract the Super Bowl wagers, it becomes clear how Illinois managed to set a record in March.

Nonetheless, February was a remarkable month for Illinois. Only surpassed by New York ($1.47 billion), the Prairie State ranked second in the United States in terms of handle. It was ahead of New Jersey ($847.4 million), Nevada ($659.4 million), and Ohio ($639.8 million).

Before February, Illinois had a four-month run of handling over $1 billion each month. This achievement made Illinois the fourth state to record four straight months of billion-dollar handle, joining New York, New Jersey, and Nevada.

Revenue from sports betting in Illinois – March 2023

Licensee	Online Brand	Handle	Revenue	Hold	Taxes
Fairmount Park	FanDuel	$372,452,513	$43,077,323	11.6%	$6,492,015
Casino Queen East St. Louis	DraftKings	$334,935,998	$31,330,487	9.4%	$4,452,582
Rivers Des Plaines	BetRivers	$110,047,880	$10,667,971	9.7%	$1,553,118
Grand Victoria	Caesars	$79,824,566	$5,611,330	7.0%	$676,193
Hawthorne	PointsBet	$60,651,638	$6,864,533	11.3%	$1,045,771
Par-A-Dice	BetMGM	$58,859,763	$5,271,073	9.0%	$782,209
Hollywood Aurora	Barstool	$50,494,577	$3,827,788	7.6%	$583,039
Argosy		$3,895,597	$568,491	14.6%	$46,209
Hollywood Joliet		$1,538,829	$204,418	13.3%	$19,849
Total		$1,072,701,361	$107,423,414	10.0%	$15,650,984

March 2023

Handle

New York has $1,792,885,345, Illinois has $1,072,701,361, New Jersey has $1,025,779,225, Nevada has $829,842,964, and Ohio has $738,613,175.

Revenue

New York has $163,582,116, Illinois has $107,423,414, Ohio has $95,313,123, New Jersey has $93,039,999, and Pennsylvania has $66,465,774.

Taxes

New York has $83,117,519, Pennsylvania has $18,232,293, Illinois has $15,650,984, New Jersey has $13,083,369, and Ohio has $9,551,057.

Illinois one of only two states showing sports betting growth

Only Illinois and New York among the top 10 US sports betting jurisdictions are demonstrating growth in 2023.

New Jersey, that is closely ranked with Illinois, exhibits signs of cooling down.

Play Illinois forecasts that Illinois will secure a firm position as the nation’s second largest sports betting market by the end of the year. This prediction is underscored by the anticipated launch of the Circa Sportsbook before the commencement of the NFL season.

In the initial three months of the year, Illinois holds the second position in handle, with over $3 billion, trailing only behind New York which has $5 billion. In terms of revenue, Illinois also ranks second with $259 million, again behind New York at $422 million. Furthermore, in 2023, Illinois is anticipated to be third in taxes, with $42 million, lagging behind New York with over $214 million and Pennsylvania with $48 million.

In comparison, Illinois recorded a handle of over $971 million (3rd), revenue close to $79.5 million (2nd), and tax collection exceeding $9.7 million (3rd) in March 2022.

From January to March 2022, Illinois ranked fourth in handle with over $2.5 billion, second in revenue with nearly $170 million, and second in taxes with over $26 million.

In March 2022, a law was enacted that permitted residents of Illinois to register online for sportsbooks, instead of having to do it at one of the state’s land-based casinos. The decision to allow online registration with any of the seven legal sportsbooks in the state has significantly benefited the industry.

Rankings up until March 2023:

Handle

The amount for New York is $5,066,233,643, for Illinois is $3,018,122,442, for New Jersey is $2,955,417,869, for Ohio is $2,492,510,467, and for Nevada is $2,424,715,059.

Revenue

New York: $421,939,700<br>Illinois: $259,273,388<br>Ohio: $387,230,074<br>New Jersey: $219,991,658<br>Pennsylvania: $186,662,345

Taxes

1. New York — $214,614,106
2. Pennsylvania — $47,925,302
3. Illinois — $42,028,932
4. Ohio — $38,779,419
5. New Jersey — $31,237,403

Illinois third in lifetime sports betting with over $21.6 billion lifetime

In February, Illinois officially exceeded a lifetime sports betting handle of $20 billion. With the addition of March’s figures, the total amount bet now surpasses $21.6 billion.

In January, Illinois surpassed Pennsylvania to become the third highest state in terms of lifetime sports betting handle, with over $19.7 billion wagered on sports. The January figures from Illinois also helped to elevate the total lifetime sports betting handle in the United States to more than $200 billion.

Illinois currently maintains its position as the third highest state in terms of total sports bets, coming behind New Jersey (over $36.7 billion) and Nevada ($32 billion). However, New York is quickly catching up and is projected to overtake Illinois within the next one to two months.