Illinois Lifetime Sportsbook Handle Hits $5B in Record Time

In June, the volume of sports bets in Illinois failed to hit the half a billion-dollar mark for the first time in 2021. June’s total handle for retail and online sportsbooks in the Prairie State was $476.5 million. Data released by the Illinois Gaming Board on Thursday indicates that the handle in June reflected a 6.1% dip from the 507.3 million sports bettors spent in May. In addition, the average volume of bets placed per day over the 30 days of June dropped to $15.9 million from May’s daily sports bettors’ expenditure of $16.9 million.

However, despite the slowed-down performance for Illinois, the handle collected by sportsbooks for June slingshot the state to a fantastic milestone. With the results for June in, the Prairie State has officially seen a lifetime handle of $5.1 billion in just 16 months. With this landmark performance, the Prairie State has bested the record that New Jersey previously set by collecting over $5 billion worth of sports wagers in 18 months.

What makes the $5 billion-plus feat even more impressive is that apart from New Jersey, only two other states have racked up over $5 billion in sports bets in the USA. So, thanks to a shining performance, particularly for the first half of 2021, the Prairie States is only the 4th US state to record a lifetime handle of $5 billion.

Illinois Slips Back to 3rd Place Behind Nevada in the US Sports Betting Race

In April and May, the Prairie State had managed to edge out Nevada and stay in the second position behind New Jersey, the reigning champion of US sports betting. However, with June’s relatively reduced handle, Illinois has slipped to third place after Nevada jumped back ahead with a $545.5 million handle. The Garden State maintained its strong lead with a $766.9 million handle, whereas Pennsylvania came in at the 4th position with a $420.2 million handle.

On top of being the first time in 5 months that Illinois failed to see a $500 million-plus handle, June’s handle is the lowest that the state has seen in 6 months. The last time that the state recorded such a low handle was in November 2020, when sports bettors spent a total of $449.2 million on sports wagers.

Well, most of this decline can be attributed to a weak sports calendar that has led to a downward trend observed across the USA sports betting industry. From what industry observers are saying, this trough on Illinois’ sports betting graph won’t stay that way for long as there’s only one dry spell month left. Eric Ramsay, an analyst for the PlayUSA network, shared a few sentiments about the regression, saying:

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“Illinois sportsbooks is very much continuing down the same path as most major US markets in June, with revenue surging despite the seasonal headwinds working to keep handle down. Fortunately for them, sportsbooks only have to endure one more month of sluggish action before the fall sports season reignites the industry.”

Basketball Wagers Brought in the Lion Share of the Handle

In June, sports bettors spent the most money on basketball wagers with a total handle of $126.9 million, 17.7% less than the $154.7 million spent on the sport the month before. Baseball wagers were second with a $126.7 million handle after sports bettors spent 600K more on the sport compared to May’s $126.1 million handle. Tennis rounded up the top three with a $40.3 million handle, up 19% from May’s $32.6 million.

Of the total handle collected for June, $451.7 million or 94.8% of the wagers came from mobile/online wagers. Meanwhile, even as the handle dropped significantly, the gross gaming revenue jumped by 31.8%, from $36.6 million in May to $48.2 million in June, the third-highest GGR in the history of Illinois. Additionally, the gross revenue for June ended up generating $7.7 million worth of local and state taxes.

Ramsey explained the revenue uptick as a product of how sports bettors engage with sports in the summer. He said:

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“Bettors interact with individual sports like golf and tennis differently than major U.S. team sports like football, placing more futures bets and single-game parlay bets that carry lower odds to win. For sportsbooks those bets are particularly important during the summer when volume drops. And it puts sportsbooks in an excellent position as football season approaches.”

Lack of Remote Mobile Registrations Continues to Hurt Illinois

Another significant factor contributing to the dipping volume of sports bets in the Prairie State is the fact that remote mobile registration is no longer permitted. After nine months, primarily thanks to pandemic-related emergency measures, March was the last time that Governor J.B. Pritzker retained the temporary remote mobile registration rule. Through the period that remote registrations were allowed, sports betting in Illinois thrived to the point of recording a best-ever monthly handle of over $600 million in March.

With remote mobile registrations out of the picture, many fear that the Illinois sports betting market will be dampened even more in the future. Still, the state seems to have weathered that storm in the past couple of months. Joe Boozell, another analyst from the PlayUSA network, said:

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“Even with all the twists and turns over the last year, namely the back-and-forth with in-person registration requirements and pandemic restrictions, Illinois continues to break new ground. Illinois bettors remain highly engaged, keeping the state entrenched among the nation’s sports betting heavyweights like Nevada and New Jersey.”

Boozell added that the in-person registration issue in the Prairie State could get worse if online-only operators are forced to pay the steep $20 million fees for three licenses set to be available in December. This fee is twice as much as what retail sports betting operators pay for their licenses, but Boozell sees a workaround for the obstacle. He said:

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“Without a legislative fix, in-person registration will continue to be an issue that alters the market. Worse, if no operator pays the hefty online-only fee when those licenses become available in December it could make in-person registration permanent. We will see if legislators are able to either lower the price of the online-only licenses to make them more attractive or make it so that the online-only licenses aren’t the trigger for remote registration.”