Illinois Betting Growth Sees Record Revenue
Revenue Nearly $135 Million in January
Sports betting in Illinois has been on a bit of a roll lately and continues into the new year. Illinois is one of the last states to release its monthly better numbers. The state just released its January figures, while other states have already released numbers for February. January was a strong month for the sportsbooks in the state as the Illinois betting growth trend continued. Sportsbooks took more than $1 billion in wagers for the fifth consecutive month, the first time that has ever happened. The state reported a handle of $1.29 billion in wagers, making it the state with the third-highest handle for the month. Only New York and New Jersey reported taking more in wagers than Illinois.
The Illinois betting growth was largely tied to FanDuel, which accounted for an all-time state record of $59.4 million for the month. FanDuel set the previous state record of $51.5 million in December. Those two months helped push FanDuel’s online revenue to more than $1 billion since entering the state.
The key month for Illinois betting growth is going to be February. The month marks the end of football season and the March Madness brackets aren’t counted for another month. Other states reported a betting drop-off in February, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the handle dip. A much better indicator of the health of sports betting in the state is to compare February’s numbers to February 2023. Even states that reported a large decline in handle from January to February showed this year’s numbers were better than they were in February 2023.
Parlays Popular in Illinois
Betting odds calculators may say point spread parlays are poor wagers, but they were huge for Illinois in January. The state’s sportsbooks did extremely well on parlay wagers, with state-record revenue of $86.7 million coming from those wagers. Hold for the state’s sportsbooks averaged 24% on parlays.
Once again, it was FanDuel that led the way, reporting $42.6 million in revenue from losing parlays. DraftKings also had a solid month in parlays, reporting revenue of $28.2 million and BetRivers reported $4 million in parlay revenue. ESPN Bet was fourth in the state in parlay revenue at $3.6 million.
DraftKings had a solid all-around month, it was just in the parlays where the sportsbook made money. For January, DraftKings reported a total revenue of $44.2 million. DraftKings did take in more bets than FanDuel, but wasn’t able to maintain the same hold.
Football Good to the State
Indiana may claim to be the basketball state in the U.S., but the people in Illinois appreciate their hoops, as well. January saw a basketball handle of $449.9 million, which was responsible for revenue of $14.7 million. The hold on basketball was pretty low considering the amount wagered, so some of the expert picks by bettors came through.
Football brought in $249.3 million in bets but showed solid revenue of $22.2 million. So while football saw much less wager, it showed significantly more revenue. That’s a key reason why Illinois, and the rest of the states with legal sports betting, are going to miss football.
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