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According to the Illinois Gaming Board, $1.03 billion was bet on
sports in the state, the second consecutive month the handle has
topped the billion dollar mark.
“Very promising because two billion dollar months in a row will put
the year at very close to $10 billion in handle, so that’s pretty
significant,” said Dave Briggs with PlayIllinois.com.
The Land of Lincoln is the just the fourth state that has handled
more than a billion dollars in sports bets in a month. The other
states are New York, New Jersey and Nevada.
Briggs said the record handle was driven most by betting on the NFL,
NBA, World Cup and the NHL.
Illinois ranked third in the country in monthly handle behind New
Jersey and New York. In November, Illinois surpassed Pennsylvania in
sports betting revenue and is close to passing them in handle as
well.
Briggs said the sports betting momentum in Illinois will most likely
continue for the coming months.
“You get into the early months of this year and you’ve got the Super
Bowl coming up which is the biggest sports betting day on the
calendar and then you get into March Madness, so it should keep
rolling for quite a bit here,” said Briggs.
During November, Illinois sportsbooks generated over $15 million for
state and local coffers. Year-to-date through November, sports
betting in Illinois has produced total tax revenue of more than $114
million.
Twenty-six states have legal sports betting which has generated
nearly $2.4 billion in total tax revenue.
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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