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Illinois Rakes in $62 Million in Sports Betting Handle
By Jeff Osienya Sep 23, 2020 IndustryLegal sports betting in Illinois is showing great potential for the future after the recovery of sports. 80%+ of the wagers from a four-month handle of $62 million were placed in July, with 90% of the total handle coming from BetRivers’ mobile app.From the look of things, it appears that the recently launched regulated sports betting industry in Illinois got off the wrong foot because of the raging Coronavirus pandemic. Now that the novel virus is more or less cooling off, and all major sports events have gotten back in the game, Illinois’ youthful industry is making a killing.
According to the latest numbers published by the Illinois Gaming Board, the Prairie State has accrued over $61.8 million since 9th March, when the regulated market made its debut, through the pandemic-induced shutdowns to 31st July.
The most reassuring bit of the report released by the state’s gaming regulator is that the majority of the sports betting handle, at an impressive $52.5 million, was collected last month when all the major US sports league sprung back to life. Moreover, analysts predict that the figure is poised to climb sky-high in September now that NFL, the most popular sport for American bettors kicked off a week ago.
The Soccer Handle Rules, But Not for Long
From the report released by the Illinois Gaming Board, soccer bets formed the largest chunk of the handle, bringing in bets that amounted to about $24.8 million. Baseball followed closely after the value of total wagers placed hit nearly $18.5 million.
Aside from soccer and baseball, no other sport recorded a double-digit handle. Boxing and MMA, golf, and basketball were the other sports that drew in significant bets at a total value $5.7 million, $5.6 million, and $4.2 million respectively.
As for football, however, given that the report only covers pre-season wagers, the total handle collected was only $100K. Nonetheless, now that the new NFL season has taken off, we expect things to be different this month, and the months that follow to the end of the season. Based on data from the American Gaming Association, the NFL has always accounted for the largest sports betting handle in the country, hitting highs of over 30% of the total handle in some states.
Online & Mobile Betting Shines
It’s worth noting that this first taste of revenue reports in Illinois only cuts across the two pioneer sportsbook to open their doors in the state; Rivers Casino in Des Plaines and the one in Argosy Casino Alton. Since then, more retail sports betting facilities have been launched in the state in 5 other casinos and at the Stickney based Hawthorne Race Course.
Rivers took 90% of the handle collected from about 1.4 million wagers, thanks to the BetRivers online sports betting application that went live on 18th June. Looking at the average wager placed at online and retail facilities, players spent an average of $44 for each wager they placed. Overall, Rivers raked in $4.1 million in revenue from the sports betting handle.
For the taxes, sports betting generated a total of around $609,700 for the Prairie State for the four months between March and July, considering that sportsbooks have to part with 15% of their revenue as tax. Additionally, for Cook County, casinos have to throw in an additional 2% in taxes for sports betting, meaning that Rivers paid $47,611 more for taxes.
Meanwhile, Governor J.B Pritzker has once again extended online mobile sports betting registration up to 17th October, from the initial extension to 19th September.
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