Illinois Passes New Jersey in August
It didn’t take long for New Jersey to fly past Nevada to become the largest sports betting market in the United States. New Jersey had a nice run in the top spot until New York launched online sports betting and pushed its neighbor into second place.
As predicted, New Jersey fell down to number three for the month of August as the state of Illinois finally surpassed the former leader in total sports betting handle. The Illinois Gaming Board has finally released the August sports betting numbers, and the Land of Lincoln posted a total sports betting handle of $564.8 million for the month.
The total sports betting handle for the month of August was a 9.4% increase from the July total, and the year-over-year increase was over 41 percent higher. Some states have already started announcing September totals, and Illinois should join that group in setting a new monthly handle record.
Illinois sportsbooks posted total revenue of $47.8 million, which was also a slight increase from July. The state of Illinois is not a market that has seen a ton of growth, but some of the biggest names in the industry are well-established.
One bit of concern for Illinois sportsbooks is that they continue to post a lower win rate than many of the other markets around the country. Illinois sportsbooks won just 8.5% of wagers placed in August, and there were only two states that won a less percentage of wagers.
FanDuel Leading the Way
FanDuel Sportsbook was once again the leader in Illinois in both total handle and total revenue for the month of August. FanDuel posted a total sports betting handle of $176.7 million at the online sportsbook, and that led to a solid revenue total of $18.6 million.
DraftKings Sportsbook has been able to challenge FanDuel at times, but it had totals of $158.9 million and $11.7 million in handle and revenue, respectively. BetRivers continues to finish in third place in both categories, while BetMGM and PointsBet remain in a tight battle for fourth place.
Baseball was the most popular sport to wager on during the month of August, but Illinois sports bettors continue to create parlays. FanDuel Sportsbook cleaned up with this type of bet as the sportsbook won over 20% of those wagers.
Rivers Casino Leads Retail Push
The Rivers Casino in Des Plaines was the first to offer retail sports betting in Illinois and it has continued to be a leader in that category. Rivers Casino took in $12.6 million in wagers for the month of August, but it posted a win rate of less than 6%.
The Argosy Casino in Alton actually challenged Rivers Casino when it came to total revenue because that location won nearly 20% of all wagers. The DraftKings Sportsbook at Casino Queen was next on the list for both handle and revenue in August.
