Land of Lincoln has been providing some of the most impressive legal sports betting numbers in the country in recent months, and April was no exception. The Illinois Gaming Board reported a handle of $898.6 million.
Wagers from online sports betting sites and retail sportsbooks dropped 16% month-over-month following March Madness, but operators’ hold increased nearly an entire point to 9.9% in April.
That produced an adjusted gross revenue of $89.5 million, which was down 7.8% monthly but up nearly 30% year-over-year. Most U.S. betting markets suffered in April as college basketball ended, leaving the NBA and NHL playoffs (with no Chicago teams) and MLB as the major remaining options.
Still, Illinois ranked second among all states in handle and revenue, sitting behind only New York.
Illinois sports betting brought in $13.4 million in total tax revenue with a little over $1 million of that going to Cook County, which receives a 2% tax rate on adjusted gross wagering receipts on bets made within Chicago.
FanDuel, PointsBet win big
Online sports betting made up nearly 98% of the overall wagers accepted and all but $2.4 million of the revenue, which came from brick-and-mortar locations.
FanDuel took in $310.4 million in wagers and used a 12.5% win rate to produce a state-best revenue of $38.9 million, down just 3% from March. DraftKings ranked second in Illinois with a handle of $278.8 million and revenue of just under $25 million on a 9% hold.
Caesars reported revenue of $3.9 million on a handle of $75.2 million, while PointsBet enjoyed an 11.3% win rate to produce a revenue of $5.4 million on wagers of $47.4 million.
