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According to PlayIllinois.com, $286.2 million was bet on both
the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments, a record
amount. That is a big jump from last year when the March Madness
handle was around $200 million.
Nearly 96% of the bets were placed online, boosted by a change
in state law March 5 that allowed online sportsbooks to acquire
new customers remotely. It was legal to bet on Illinois college
teams in person for the first time, but analyst Joe Boozell said
it didn’t have much of an impact.
“Obviously it didn’t help that Illinois and Loyola didn’t do
particularly well,” Boozell said.
The tourney total netted Illinois sports books $14.3 million in
adjusted gross receipts with the state receiving about $2.1
million in tax revenue.
Sports books held only 5% of the total handle, a number that is
usually closer to 10%.
“Sports books made only $5 million more than the Super Bowl, but
way more was bet on March Madness, so basically what that means
is the public came out pretty good,” Boozell said.
DraftKings was the top online sports book, taking in over $105
million in handle during the tournament. It was followed by
FanDuel and BetRivers.
Boozell expects the monthly sports betting numbers in Illinois
to approach $900 million, solidifying the state as possibly the
No. 2 sports betting market in the country come football season
behind only New York.
Kevin Bessler reports on statewide issues in
Illinois for the Center Square. He has over 30 years of
experience in radio news reporting throughout the Midwest.
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