Illinois Bettors Crazy About NFL
The state of Illinois continued to post some impressive sports betting numbers all summer long despite a relatively slow sports calendar. Now that NFL football is back, the overall betting numbers for Illinois are expected to see a major jump.
GeoComply is a company that tracks unique betting action throughout the United States, and Illinois saw the biggest jump in NFL betting action. According to the report from GeoComply, sportsbooks in Illinois took in 60% more wagers than they did during Week 1 of the 2021 NFL season.
There are seven online sportsbooks in Illinois that use GeoComply to track sports betting logins, and there were more than 8 million bets placed from Thursday through Sunday. Other states throughout the country saw similar growth, but it was Illinois that was clearly on top in this category.
This report from GeoComply also detailed total betting action throughout the country on NFL games. It was no surprise that New York finished on top of the list, and Illinois came in third place when it came to NFL-specific betting.
Pennsylvania was next on the list in terms of year-to-year growth on NFL betting, but that state increased by just 30%. Illinois used to be looking up at Pennsylvania each month when the sports betting reports were released, but that is no longer the case.
No More Strange Laws
There were a couple of different factors that led to the sportsbooks in Illinois seeing more NFL betting action than a year before. Perhaps the biggest reason for the jump is the fact that it was much easier for new customers to sign up for an account in 2022.
It wasn’t until March of this year that the in-person registration requirement officially went away for good. Nevada is now the only state that still requires this method to sign up, and it hurts the overall betting numbers in that state.
There are also more sports betting options available in the state of Illinois, and the Land of Lincoln continues to have some of the top operators. Illinois is still a state with some interesting laws when it comes to college sports, but now for the huge betting market of the NFL.
Casinos Continuing to Bounce Back
The COVID-19 pandemic had a huge negative impact on the casino industry in the state of Illinois, but those numbers are now returning to pre-pandemic levels. This casino industry is also one that continues to grow as the Chicagoland area is starting to launch some new options.
Illinois casinos have now brought in $773 million in revenue in 2022, which was only $5 million less than what was reported through the month of July in 2019. The number of people that have come through the casino doors is still down from where it was in 2019, but things are starting bounce back each month.
