Some Good News, Some Bad News for Illinois and Iowa Sports Betting

There’s mostly good news on both the Illinois sports betting and Iowa sports betting front.

The Illinois Sports Gaming Board reported that more than $1.029 billion was gambled in-person and online in December, giving the state three straight months of a handle of more than $1 billion and nearly $10 billion bet in 2022. Meanwhile, the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission reported $233.6 million in bets both in-person and online in January. While that’s a 23% decrease from the $303.3 million bet in January 2022, it’s more than the $229.9 million bet in December 2022.

The three months of $1 billion-plus in handle for sports betting in Illinois were October ($1.03 billion), November ($1.03 billion) and December ($1.029 billion). Only three states have had three consecutive months of billion-dollar handle. They are New York, New Jersey and Nevada.

$128 million in tax revenue

Illinois lawmakers have to be happy with the results of legal, regulated sports betting in the state. For the year, sports books produced nearly $128 million in tax revenue. Lifetime, the figure is $233 million since June 2019.

Sports books contributed $13 million in revenue to the state in December. That’s down from the $15.5 million in November. The handle was $1,028,471,257, the revenue was $81,407,470, the hold was 7.9% and state taxes were $13,186,151.

The FanDuel Sportsbook at Fairmont Park remained the top revenue producer in the state with $37.4 million and a hold of 10.7%. It contributed $6 million in state taxes with $350 million in handle. Illinois has nine retail sports books and seven online sports books. The top five, looking at revenue for December, were $37.4 million for FanDuel, $22 million for DraftKings, $8.1 million for BetRivers and $3.4 million for PointsBet.

In Iowa

Meanwhile, in Iowa, betting revenue last month was $16.5 million, an increase from the $14.3 million in January 2022 but behind the $20.4 million bet in December. Out of the $16.5 million, $15.3 million was generated by online sports betting and remaining $1.25 million from in-person wagers.

Bettors spent $207.7 million online last month. Some $25.9 million was bet at physical sportsbooks.

Diamond Jo in Dubuque was No. 1 in Iowa sports betting with $5.84 million in revenue from its $56.7 million handle. Wild Rose in Jefferson and its DraftKings SportsBook got more than $2.0 million in revenue from $34.2 million in total bets.

Caesars got $1.73 million in revenue from a $35.5 million handle. BetMGM got $1.72 in revenue from $17.2 million in total bets.

Sports betting tax revenue for January was $1.1 million.