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Illinois Sportsbooks See Betting Revenue Plunge In December

Handle ticks slightly higher to $789 million, as yearly wagers exceed $7 billion

Chris Altruda by Chris Altruda
February 4, 2022
in Analysis, Regulation
Illinois December 2021 revenue

Photo by Henryk Sadura/Shutterstock

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Sportsbooks in Illinois endured a tough December when bettors clawed back some of their winnings from a rough November, as revenue was more than halved to nearly $33.7 million, according to figures released Friday by the Illinois Gaming Board.

Operators in the Land of Lincoln enjoyed a bumper November with a record $79.3 million in revenue, the sixth-highest monthly total recorded in the post-PASPA era. But bettors bounced back strongly to close the year, limiting the house to a 4.3% win rate that was the second-lowest in the 20 months of bets placed. The result was revenue falling 57.5% month-over-month, as the hold also dropped nearly 6 full percentage points.

The $789.6 million in traditional handle represented a modest 1.2% increase, however, compared to November’s total. It also pushed Illinois above $7 billion in sports betting handle for the 2021 calendar year, joining New Jersey and Nevada as the only states to clear that threshold.

The state collected just over $5 million in taxes, while Cook County claimed $383,869 from its 2% share of revenue from wagers made in the state’s largest county. Illinois generated nearly $78.8 million in state taxes from sports wagering in 2021, with Cook County claiming an additional $5.9 million for its coffers.

Shuffling in the revenue order as 2021 closes

Running Top 10 December #SportsBetting handle by state:

1 New Jersey: $1.23B
2 Nevada: $1.01B
3 ILLINOIS: $789.6M
4 Pennsylvania: $750.39M
5 Michigan: $514.63M
6 Indiana: $463M
7 Colorado: $461.4M
8 Virginia: $426.6M
9 Tennessee: $341.8M
10 Iowa: $266.5M#GamblingTwitter

— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) February 4, 2022

Mobile operators posted just a 4.4% win rate, with nearly $32.4 million in revenue from a completed-events handle of barely more than $750 million. FanDuel again retained the top spot with more than $12.9 million, but BetRivers snuck past DraftKings for second with $6.6 million — which was over $400,000 more than DraftKings‘ $6.2 million.

PointsBet had the best win rate of all mobile operators at 8.5% and claimed more than $4 million in revenue for the final month of the year. Barstool Sportsbook‘s 4.4% win rate was better than only DraftKings (2.2%), but it was still a comfortable fifth with nearly $2.4 million in revenue. Caesars again rounded out the sextet with close to $700,000.

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In terms of handle, DraftKings again took top honors with more than $290.3 million, as it claimed nearly 40% of the mobile market share. It finished with more than $2.5 billion handle in Illinois for the year and over $132 million in revenue.

FanDuel also exceeded $200 million in handle for the third straight month at $230.6 million, clearing the $2 billion handle mark with $77 million to spare. It easily took the top spot for mobile operator revenue in 2021 with $204.2 million, as its 9.8% hold was nearly 2 full percentage points clear of the second-closest of the group.

BetRivers claimed third place for both revenue and handle for the year, eclipsing $1 billion handle for 2021 with a final month tally of $116.6 million. It also finished with $86.6 million in revenue with an 8.1% hold.

PointsBet ($503.2 million) and Barstool ($441.1 million) combined for nearly $1 billion in wagers, though Barstool had a slightly higher handle than the Australian-based book in the nine-plus months they went head-to-head after entering Illinois in March. While Caesars had a strong fourth quarter, in which the $46.6 million handle represented nearly 40% of its $117.8 million total for the year, its $13.7 million handle for December was also less than the $14.1 million in mobile revenue it made in New York last week.

Parlays save the day

Parlay wagering has long been a primary source of revenue when it comes to Illinois operators, and December was no different, as the nearly $18.3 million was more than half the overall total. But that was still down 58.7% from November. The win rate in that category was 10.4%, a far more modest percentage than the eye-popping 26.6% operators cleared on such bets the previous month.

Parlay handle totaled more than $1.5 billion for the year, accounting for 21.6% of the total handle. The $260 million it generated in revenue, however, accounted for just shy of half the overall operator revenue.

Basketball and football made up the other main revenue streams, totaling nearly $11.4 between them despite the individual holds in each sport being less than 3%. Tennis ($1.7 million) and soccer ($1.6 million) were the only other sports to post seven-figure revenue totals, while bettors posted a solid win in boxing and MMA wagering with $8.3 million in payouts compared to $7.9 million in completed wagers.

Retail takes a rare beating

Top 10 #SportsBetting Handle since May 2018 (Dec in CAPS):

1 NEWJERSEY: $22.783B
2 NEVADA: $20.767B
3 PENNSYLVANIA: $11.641B
4 ILLINOIS: $8.905B
5 INDIANA: $6.034B
6 COLORADO: $5.033B
7 MICHIGAN: $4.097B
8 VIRGINIA: $3.221B
9 TENNESSEE: $3.042B
10 IOWA: $2.829B#GamblingTwitter

— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) February 4, 2022

Illinois’ 11 brick-and-mortar venues posted a win rate of 10% or higher in five of 2021’s first 11 months, but bettors turned that script on its head with their best month to close the year. The house capped the year with a 1.5% win rate on $36.7 million wagered, as three venues finished in the red. Rivers Casino continued to represent the bulk of the handle with nearly $16.8 million, while Alton Casino and Casino Queen on the western side of the state combined for nearly $9.2 million in wagers.

Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin took the brunt of retail pain, finishing more than $200,000 underwater as it paid out close to $2 million in winnings on nearly $1.8 million in bets. Hawthorne Race Course, which operates two off-track betting sites for sports wagering, lost $84,521 on nearly $2.6 million in wagers, while bettors eked out a win at Hollywood Casino in Aurora, coming out nearly $2,200 ahead on $2.6 million worth of bets.

The long December for retail books knocked the 2021 win rate below 10%, as the house claimed nearly $18.2 million in revenue from $186.8 million in handle.

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Chris Altruda

Chris Altruda

Chris Altruda was a sportswriter with ESPN, The Associated Press, and STATS for more than two decades before coming to Better Collective in 2019. When not crunching sports betting revenue figures, he is usually listening to Iron Maiden or exploring Chicago neighborhoods. His Twitter handle is @AlTruda73 and can be reached via email at [email protected]

This site contains commercial content. We may be compensated for the links provided on this page. The content on this page is for informational purposes only.

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