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The
state surpassed $1 billion in gross gaming revenue since it was
legalized in March 2020. Illinois joined New Jersey, Nevada and
Pennsylvania as the only states to reach the revenue plateau,
but was the fastest to do so. While it took Illinois 27 months,
New Jersey and Nevada needed 35 months and Pennsylvania required
41.
Dave Briggs with PlayIllinois.com said with the NFL season
underway, he is expecting huge numbers this fall.
“Absolutely, and we already saw a great figure on NFL betting
that recently came out that Illinois led the nation in
year-over-year growth in how much betting volume there was on
that first weekend of the NFL, up 60% compared to last year,”
Briggs said.
Briggs said Illinois sportsbooks have produced over $167 million
in tax revenue to state and local authorities since the industry
launched, a fact that other states have to notice.
“We see that it's happening,” Briggs said. “They just legalized
it in Kansas and it's coming online in other places.”
Operators posted an 8.9% hold, leading to the state receiving
$6.9 million in tax receipts for July. Sports wagering has
generated about $60 million in state taxes for Illinois this
year.
FanDuel and DraftKings were the top two mobile books in total
handle in July. During that month, baseball was the largest
revenue generator, but tennis was a surprising second in handle
and revenue.
This year, the 26 states that have legal sports betting have
produced a combined handle exceeding $50 billion through July.
Since the beginning of legal sports betting, over $148 billion
has been bet in the United States.
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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