For the second time in just seven months, Illinois sports betting handle fell below $1 billion in April, reporting handle of approximately $907 million across both retail and mobile properties.

Notably, for the third consecutive month (or for an entire quarter), Illinois reported the highest sports betting handle outside of New York sports betting in the entire United States, eclipsing New Jersey (marginally) in each month.

Despite reporting handle of $907 million, this was still down over 15% from March’s handle of $1.07 billion, but up year-over-year by approximately 7 percent on the $839 million. Illinois generally, when indexed year-on-year has performed strongly and continues to do so.

96.7 percent of total wagers were taken over mobile wagering platforms. $877.4 million of wagers placed were accounted for over mobile, with the remaining $29.3 million contributed through traditional brick and mortar means.

With regards to GGR, Illinois reported adjusted gross revenue of $89.5 million, up year-on-year by approximately 30 percent.

The Illinois Gaming Board also breaks down wagers and revenue by operator and (generally) sport. The top three of bets by ‘sport’ are as follows:

  • Parlay wagers ($249.4 million)
  • Basketball wagers ($240.3 million)
  • Baseball ($163.4 million)

From a commercial standpoint, FanDuel continued to dominate the market ahead of DraftKings and Caesars and PointsBet chasing shadows.

For the entirety of 2022, Illinois sports betting usurped (marginally) New Jersey sports betting, and accounted for 37 percent of the states total commercial gaming revenue. Illinois online casino is not legal as of yet, and nor is there large pressure for it to move that way.

Sports betting revenue is taxed at a rate of 17 percent on wagers placed in Cook County (incl Chicago and the three land based casinos), and 15 percent in all other areas of the state. Before the global pandemic, in-person registration was mandatory before using mobile wagering. After shifting for public health reasons, remote registration eventually became permanently available in March 2022.