Sports betting in Illinois is surging in popularity and the combined adjusted gross revenue in June was $54.7 million as reported by the Illinois Gaming Board. The data collected revealed June 2023 reaped nearly 34% more than the previous June.
Sports Betting Heating Up
June’s sports betting numbers are historically lower than May’s as little is available on the menu other than late NBA and NHL playoffs plus Major League Baseball. That held true in Illinois as well but the bigger picture saw a substantial increase in adjusted gross gaming revenue from the same time last year.
June’s $665.77 million handle, of which $647.7 million came via mobile betting, was up over 5.9% from June 2022 and the adjusted gross gaming revenue of $54.7 million revealed an increase of 33.8% from last year at the same time. The books reported an 8.2% hold (win rate) which slumped 2.6%from May.
Illinois has proven to be fertile ground for sports betting as evidenced by producing the second-largest handle in June, trailing only New York. Yet, the taxes collected plummeted from $14.5 million in May to $8.2 million in June. The Land of Lincoln has generated over $5 billion in sports betting wagers this year which has manifested in nearly $75 million in tax revenue for 2023.
And what’s more, it has been reported that two more online sportsbooks will enter the fray with Circa Sportsbook and Hard Rock Bet expected to launch in the fall, bringing the number of mobile sports betting sites to nine.
The top five year-to-date sports betting financial rankings are as follows:
DraftKings Gaining Ground
In sports betting markets all across the nation, we have seen DraftKings repeatedly erode FanDuel’s once iron-fisted position as the top book in the business. In June, DraftKings usurped FanDuel as the most popular book in Illinois with $228.7 million in bets versus FanDuel’s $221.4 million.
However, FanDuel’s 9.7 hold, tops in June, propelled them to be the revenue leader with $21.5 compared to DraftKings' 16.9 million. BetRivers was third in the marketplace with a $55.7 million handle on a 9% hold resulting in $5.1 million in revenue.
Caesars showed $45.9 million in bets with revenues of $2.6 million which narrowly bested PointsBet with $41 million in wagers resulting in $2.4 million in revenue.
And if you ever wondered why sportsbooks are so eager to give odds boosts and bonus bets using parlays it’s because they yield a much higher hold for the books than straight wagers.
June marked the first month this year that Illinois sportsbooks failed to reach a 20% hold rate on parlay bets. Nevertheless, parlays contributed $31.7 million to the books’ bottom line in June and over $1 billion since mobile betting launched in June 2020.
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