Can Illinois Become the Top Sports Betting Market in the Nation?

BetRivers Illinois launch

In a little over a year since legalizing sports betting, Illinois has quickly risen the ranks. It is now the number two sports betting market in the nation, surpassing both Pennsylvania and Nevada in recent months. Of course, the latter is the longest established sports betting industry in the US, making Illinois’ quick ascent even more impressive.

The Land of Lincoln saw new records set every month in 2020, ending with December’s $491 million in wagering handle before finally surpassing half a billion dollars in January 2021. Since then, every month has resulted in a total handle greater than $500 million, something only Illinois sports betting and New Jersey sports betting markets has accomplished.

What Is The Ceiling For The Illinois Sports Betting Industry?

Pending June 2021 figures, Illinois is riding a five-month streak with more than $500 million in total sports betting handle. The largest of those months was March when $633 million was wagered statewide, fueled by the NCAA March Madness tournament.

Illinois sports betting handle

After March’s record, there was concern that numbers would plummet with mobile sign-ups due to end on April 2. Instead, Illinois put up an April handle of $537 million, while both Pennsylvania ($479 million) and Nevada ($454 million) fell below $500 million, Nevada doing so for the first time since August 2020.

Should Illinois maintain $500 million as its new floor, the question then becomes: what is the state’s ceiling when football season returns in a few short months? It is already clear that prohibiting online sign-ups has not prevented Illinoisans from continuing to place wagers. Couple that with a full NFL season and monthly handle totals could crack $700 million, if not higher.

What Will It Take to Unseat New Jersey?

Illinois has bested Pennsylvania in terms of total sports betting handle for four consecutive months but has only bettered Nevada for two. Before discussing how Illinois can become number one, it must still prove it can stay ahead of Nevada, as Nevada’s June handle rose to $544.8 million, a 14% increase from May.

However, even with the assumption that Illinois can continue to lay claim to the number-two market in the nation, it will also likely need some help in the form of New Jersey losing ground if it wants to overtake the lead.

Illinois’ sports betting market may grow beyond its March record handle of $633 million. However, New Jersey has routinely reported monthly handles ranging in the $700-900s of millions, numbers still way above those that Illinois has come close to producing in its short sports betting history.

State by state sports betting comparison

However, an undetermined amount of New Jersey’s sports betting business comes from New York residents. Should mobile sports betting become available within the Empire State, Illinois could very well see the help it needs to take that top spot.

How Much Illinois Sports Betting Tax Revenue Is Making Its Way To Springfield?

Monthly handles above half a billion dollars are a testament to sports betting’s popularity in Illinois. Still, there should be no confusion that the government had its eyes on tax revenue above all else when sports betting was legalized.

Since its launch in 2020, the Illinois state government has received $53,282,890 in sports betting tax revenue. More than $33 million of that coming since the beginning of the year. Not a single month has brought less than $5.85 million back to Springfield, with January’s $7.6 million (8.2% hold) being the most for a single month in Illinois history.

Those numbers are decent, but the state may have left some money on the table by not imposing higher tax rates or policies that would increase the effective rate.

Comparatively, Pennsylvania has taken in $59 million in 2021 sports betting tax revenue, New Jersey $46.2 million, and Nevada $13.9 million. Of course, all of these states have different individual laws surrounding taxes and the overall legality of online gambling from one another.

Since going live in March 2020, Illinois has seen a total of over $4.65 billion wagered, with $332.9 million of that going to sportsbook operators as business revenue. The state’s cut being of $53.3 million reflects an effective tax rate of 16%.

Similar Posts