Bettors in Illinois eagerly embraced the opportunity to legally wager on the Super Bowl for the first time, generating a handle of nearly $46 million related to Sunday’s contest.
According to a release from the Illinois Gaming Board, operators generated about $7.66 million in gross gaming revenue from Tampa Bay’s 31-9 victory over Kansas City. That resulted in nearly $1.15 million in tax receipts headed to state coffers. Operators posted a healthy 16.79% win rate on Super Bowl-related wagers as the underdog Buccaneers won outright.
Handle and GGR were not broken out by operator, but the IGB noted the state’s five mobile operators — BetRivers, DraftKings, FanDuel, PointsBet, and William Hill — accepted more than $42.75 million in online and mobile bets. The mobile handle accounted for 93.74% of the total money wagered, a percentage in line with full monthly reports.
Mobile has consistently accounted for most of handle
Since mobile wagering was first made available in June 2020 via executive order from Gov. J.B. Pritzker, the mobile handle has accounted for slightly more than 94% of the nearly $1.4 billion in wagers placed through the most recent report released for November 2020.
Pritzker on Friday night renewed the remote registration order when he signed off on his latest executive order, No. 2021-04, which is in effect until March 6. The renewal means that consumers can continue to register for mobile/online wagering accounts from personal devices or computers, rather than by visiting a retail casino.
In terms of percentages compared to monthly reports, betting on the Super Bowl was equal to slightly more than 10% of November’s handle of more than $449 million and generated 18.6% of the nearly $41.3 million in revenue generated that month.
For this year’s Super Bowl, a record 13 U.S. states plus the District of Columbia offered patrons a chance to bet the game online. Among those states are Virginia and neighboring Michigan, where operators went live earlier this year. Four other states already have legal sports betting that is not yet live.
