Illinois becomes fourth U.S state to hit $1bn in Sports Betting Revenue

The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn archaic PASBA legislation in 2018 has triggered an extremely lucrative period in U.S gambling history. Indeed, this month, Illinois becomes the latest member of the esteemed $1bn club; that is those states who have generated over a billion dollars in sports betting revenue since the inception of its local marketplace.

The news came as the Prairie State’s native regulator, the Illinois Gaming Board, published its July performance. Although the $514.6m in handle taken in throughout the month was a huge 40% uplift on the like-for-like 2021 figure, this did represent an 18% drop off versus the previous month. Yet, a weakened monthly run rate is unlikely to take the shine off the state eclipsing the $1bn threshold, joining New Jersey, Nevada, and Pennsylvania as the only U.S jurisdictions to register such a feat. As per most states who have authorised the presence of local online markets, mobile sports wagering was by far the most popular medium used for players to place bets, with 96% of monthly handle produced through digital sportsbook applications.

Operators paid a substantial $6.9m in revenue tax in the 31 days of July, rising this year’s total tax contribution to $58.1m; a significant $14m uplift on the first six months of last year.

In line with usual trends, FanDuel and DraftKings dominated the Illinois sports betting landscape, with almost two-thirds of wagering activity ran through their respective platforms. New York-based FanDuel just pipped DraftKings to the top of the handle charts, accepting $168.8m worth of bets in July, $16.6m more than their familiar industry rival. Given the lull in NFL and Basketball calendars, Baseball saw the most betting action, with residents wagering a total of $202m on the sport throughout July.