Illinois Sports Betting Still Growing
There are some states that are already announcing October sports betting numbers, but the Illinois Gaming Board just released September totals for the Land of Lincoln. Total sports betting handle increased by 47% from the August numbers, and this was largely contributed to betting on the NFL.
The total sports betting handle for the month was $831.8 million, which put Illinois in third place out of all of the markets in the U.S. Illinois had previously gotten past New Jersey with the August numbers, the will once again be trying to catch up in the final few months of 2022.
While Illinois fell behind New Jersey in terms of total handle for the month, it was able to move past that state in terms of revenue. Illinois is now over $536 million in revenue for the 2022 calendar year, and it only trails the mighty market in New York.
The tax revenue numbers for Illinois are also the second-highest in the United States in 2022, and the tax rate is modest compared to some other states. Illinois had a total revenue of $82.5 million in September, and that number would have been much higher if it weren’t for one wager at a sportsbook in the state.
The report from Illinois also pushed the lifetime handle of sports betting throughout the United States to more than $160 billion since 2018.
FanDuel Blowing Out the Competition in Revenue
There has been some movement between the top operators in the state, but it’s FanDuel that continues to be on top every single month. FanDuel posted a total handle of more than $237 million in September and also won 15% of those bets for a revenue of $35.9 million.
DraftKings was able to post a total handle of $285.9 million to lead the way in Illinois, but it just can’t keep up in terms of revenue. Bettors had more success at that operator as the total revenue came in at just $20.3 million.
The Illinois Gaming Board continues to keep other operators out of the state, even though others have applied and are waiting to receive a license.
PointsBet Pays Out Big Wager
Sportsbooks all throughout the United States continue to win big against bettors that are making parlay bets. That wasn’t the case for PointsBet in September though as they were burned bad by one single wager.
The massive loss came during Week 3 of the NFL season as a bettor was able to hit a six-leg parlay in which he wagered $65,000. PointsBet was forced to pay out $3 million for the bet, and it had a massive impact on the PointsBet numbers, as well as those for the entire state.
Parlay betting throughout the state still accounted for a hold rate of nearly 20%, but that total would have been up over 21.4% had the big wager not hit.
