Illinois Sets Sports Betting Record, Topping $1 Billion In October
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Illinois sportsbooks have reached a major milestone with the sports betting handle surpassing $1 billion for the first time in a single month, achieving this feat in October.
On Thursday, the most recent figures were released by the Illinois Gaming Board.
In October, sports betting in Illinois reached a new high with a handle of nearly $1.03 billion, surpassing the previous record set in March 2022 of around $971 million.
Illinois has joined an exclusive group of states, becoming only the fourth in history to achieve a monthly sports betting handle of a billion dollars. This puts Illinois in the company of New York, New Jersey, and Nevada as one of the top earners in the industry, with 10-figure monthly profits.
In October, Illinois ranked closely behind New Jersey ($1.06 billion) and New York (almost $1.6 billion) in terms of monthly handle, coming in third place.
The spike in sales for the month was primarily driven by increased betting on NFL games as well as the start of both the NBA and NHL regular seasons.
Illinois sports betting handle up 82% since August
The sportsbook handle in Illinois increased by 24% in October compared to September, which had a handle of over $831.8 million. Additionally, there was a 47% increase in the handle in September compared to August’s $565 million.
This suggests that the Illinois sports betting handle increased by 82% from August to October.
The growth can be mainly attributed to the change in legislation.
In March of this year, Illinois passed a law allowing residents to register for sportsbooks online instead of in person at a state-owned casino. This decision has had a positive impact on the industry, as residents can now easily sign up with one of the state’s seven legal sportsbooks.
IL sportsbook revenue ranked 2nd in US in October
Illinois came in second in the United States for gross gaming revenue, bringing in more than $91.5 million, surpassing New Jersey by $13.5 million. New York took the top spot in October with revenue of $146.8 million.
Revenue has grown by 10% compared to September’s $83.5 million, and by 42% compared to August’s $64.6 million in revenue.
As of October this year, Illinois maintained its second ranking in the US for revenue, generating nearly $628 million, and its third ranking for handle, totaling nearly $7.7 billion.
We are confident that Illinois will fall just short of reaching a $10 billion handle for the year 2022.
Illinois sports betting revenue – October 2022
| Licensee | Online Brand | Handle | Revenue | Hold | Taxes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Casino Queen East St. Louis | DraftKings | $345,347,638 | $21,268,118 | 6.2% | $4,060,471 |
| Fairmount Park | FanDuel | $327,841,505 | $41,624,393 | 12.7% | $7,000,090 |
| Rivers Des Plaines | BetRivers | $113,323,649 | $10,628,407 | 9.4% | $1,881,689 |
| Hawthorne | PointsBet | $77,823,761 | $5,653,287 | 7.3% | $1,076,757 |
| Hollywood Aurora | Barstool | $55,620,306 | $3,724,681 | 6.7% | $764,146 |
| Par-A-Dice | BetMGM | $53,624,781 | $4,272,055 | 8.0% | $766,625 |
| Grand Victoria | Caesars | $49,141,977 | $3,302,183 | 6.7% | $643,458 |
| Argosy | $5,225,926 | $889,959 | 17.0% | $129,763 | |
| Hollywood Joliet | $1,610,641 | $206,668 | 12.8% | $27,364 | |
| Total | $1,029,560,184 | $91,569,752 | 8.9% | $16,350,363 |
Where Illinois ranks lifetime
The future of the industry looks promising as more sportsbooks are expected to launch in Illinois in the near future.
List of lifetime sports betting revenue rankings (as of October):
- The states with the highest total revenue are New Jersey at $2,201,459,940, Nevada at $1,587,078,000, Pennsylvania at $1,345,799,232, Illinois at $1,299,321,673, and New York at $1,116,711,716.
Lifetime sports betting handle:
- New Jersey — $31,557,737,759
- Nevada — $27,699,146,038
- Pennsylvania — $17,348,076,595
- Illinois — $16,597,430,747
- New York — $13,455,006,069
Illinois surpassed $200 million in tax revenue from sports betting
Sportsbooks in Illinois contributed over $16.4 million to state and local treasuries in October alone. Since the beginning of the year, sports betting has generated nearly $99 million in tax revenue for the state. Since its inception in June 2019, sports betting in Illinois has now produced almost $204 million in tax revenue, surpassing the $200 million mark in October. The effective tax rate for sportsbooks in Illinois was 17.9% in October.
In Illinois, the unemployment rate was 8.9% in October, 8.2% for the year so far, and has averaged 7.8% over its history.
Sports betting exceeds $170 billion in lifetime handle nationwide
As of October, the 26 states that have legalized sports betting have collectively processed more than $170 billion in bets since their inception. Their total revenue is nearing $13 billion, and they have produced over $2 billion in tax revenue overall.
In 2022, the total handle has exceeded $73 billion, with total revenue surpassing $5.7 billion. The accumulated tax revenue has hit almost $1.2 billion, breaking the $1 billion mark.
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