Sports Betting in Illinois Makes $7 Billion Handle in First Full Year

December was the second-highest month of 2021 for handle, but hold dropped to 4.65%, its lowest point for the year.
The Chicago theater is seen at night, with neon lights and motion blur of car taillights as they drive down the street. Chicago is a big sports city & undoubtedly played a roll in Illinois impressive sports betting revenue numbers for its first full year.
By
February 14, 2022

Sports betting in Illinois generated a $7 billion handle for the first full calendar year of the market, with sportsbooks collectively making $527 million in revenue in 2021, according to data from the Illinois Gaming Board (IGB).

December was the second-highest month of 2021 in terms of handle at $789.6 million, beating the $779.9 million mark from November but falling short of October’s record of $840.2 million. Handle was up 60.6% year-to-year from $491.7 million in December 2020.

Most of December’s handle, $752.9 million, came from online sports betting. The remaining $36.7 million came from retail sportsbooks at the state’s land-based casinos, riverboats, and horse racing tracks.

According to the IGB, hold dropped to 4.65% in December — a far cry from November, when it was 10% on the nose. December’s hold was low enough to drag the average for the entire year down to 7.67%.

Football accounted for $265.4 million in wagers, followed closely by basketball with $226.4 million. Soccer was third at $30.6 million, followed by tennis ($23.2 million) and hockey ($21.1 million). Another $176.2 million were parlay bets, IGB reported.

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The six sportsbook operators currently live in Illinois collectively forked over $752.9 million in payouts in December. DraftKings paid out the most ($287.5 million), followed by FanDuel ($218.9 million) and BetRivers ($125.7 million).

Revenue totaled $36.7 million in December, down from $78.2 million in November, but up from $28.4 million in December 2020. The largest share of revenue came from parlay bets ($19.4 million), while football and basketball made operators $7.2 million and $6.5 million, respectively. Revenue from soccer and tennis both totaled $1.6 million in December.

Operators lost $400k on boxing and MMA, $29k on motor racing, and $12k on baseball in December.

The IGB doesn’t sort revenue from football and basketball wagers into whether it came from college or professional sports. However, the regulator did report that pro wagers totaled $614.2 million in December, while college wagers totaled $175.2 million. Wagers on motor racing totaled $198k.

FanDuel Tops in December Betting Revenue

FanDuel Sportsbook IL crushed its competitors in the vertical with $13.9 million in revenue, despite being second in handle at $232.9 million. Revenue was down from $30.2 million in November. FanDuel’s partners in Illinois are Hawthorne Race Course and Par-A-Dice Hotel Casino.

BetRivers Sportsbook IL, on the Rivers Casino Des Plaines license, clipped DraftKings for second in terms of revenue with $7.6 million. Handle was $133.4 million for BetRivers in December. Revenue was also down for the Chicago-based operator — it was $13.5 million in November.

In third place was DraftKings Sportsbook IL with $7.5 million in revenue, down from $21.9 million in November. DraftKings, which operates on the Casino Queen license, outpaced its competitors and generated a $295 million handle, up from $288.7 million the month before.

Ranked by handle, the rest of the field was Barstool ($62.1 million), PointsBet ($50.8 million), and Caesars ($15.4 million). In terms of revenue, PointsBet was fourth overall at $4.3 million, followed by Barstool with $2.7 million and Caesars with $658k.

The state of Illinois received $5.4 million in tax revenue in December and $83.8 million for the full-year 2021.

If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call the Virginia Council on Problem Gambling (VACPG) helpline at 1-888-532-3500

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