Illinois Sports Betting Sees 12% Growth Despite July Slowdown

Key Takeaways

• Revenue rose 25% from July 2024 behind a 10.4% hold
   
• The Prairie State generated $24.2 million in tax revenue
   
• DraftKings and FanDuel accounted for 66% of the total online handle
   

Despite a low-volume month with primarily MLB to carry wagering in the Prairie State, the Illinois Gaming Board recently reported an $862.5 million handle in July, placing the market second nationally behind only New York. 

The amount wagered also contributed to Land of Lincoln's 12th consecutive month with a handle of over $850 million, the longest streak since sports betting began in 2020, and increased the year-to-date handle to $8.5 billion. 

The Illinois sports betting increased handle, combined with a 10.4% hold, led to $89.7 million in adjusted gross revenue for the Prairie State’s online and retail sportsbooks. 

Profits rose a more significant 25% year-over-year, and the win rate was up by more than a basis point from July 2024.      

Added tax costs 

Sportsbooks endured the first month of the Prairie State’s new per-wager tax, which went into effect on July 1 and generated an additional $5.2 million for Illinois. Online operators have to pay 25 cents per wager tax to the state on the first 20 million bets. The tax increases to 50 cents after 20 million. 

FanDuel and DraftKings, which are both implementing 50-cent surcharges on customers this fall, paid out nearly $4 million of the total new tax fee. Combined with the typical rate on sportsbooks, operators sent over $24 million to the Prairie State in July.    

All 10 mobile sportsbooks have made changes, whether it's adding a surcharge or setting a new betting minimum, to help offset the new tax costs.

Big producers

DraftKings and FanDuel not only led in the per-wager tax, but the two online operators generated 66% of all online dollars wagered in Illinois during July. DraftKings led the way with $302.9 million and hauled in $31.7 million in revenue, down from June’s $40 million. 

FanDuel’s handle fell from $286.2 million in the previous month to $258.7 million in July, but the online sportsbook still enjoyed an 11.6% hold to rack up $30 million in revenue. Fanatics Sportsbook finished third in Illinois with a $66.9 million handle and also turned in a double-digit win rate. 

BetMGM and BetRivers just fell short of $50 million in wagers, and both made under $5 million in revenue, while bet365’s 9.2% hold led to $3.2 million in profits for July.      

Bigger days are coming 

With the summer slowdown coming to an end, Illinois sports betting is set to take off. College football’s Week 1 fell on the last weekend of August, so that month’s handle should be significantly higher than in 2024 when the bulk of opening week occurred in September. 

The NFL preseason will also drive August wagering up. The Prairie State generated over $865 million during that month last year. After that, Illinois reeled off nine consecutive months with at least $1 billion in wagers. That included the regular season and playoffs for the NFL, the most-bet sport in U.S. markets.