Illinois Sees Sports Betting Handle And Revenue Dip In May

By Giovanni Shorter | July 7, 2021
Illinois Sportsbook
  • Sportsbooks in Illinois saw $507.3 million wagered on sports in May.
  • This is a 5.6% decline month over month.
  • Sports betting revenue is also down a whopping 17%.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Sportsbooks in Illinois saw a slight decline in sports betting activity in May compared to April’s strong numbers.

Sports betting revenue is also down month over month with Illinois having the largest falloff in betting activity in May over any other state.

The Illinois sports betting industry is still in good standing, however, despite the big drop off month over month.

Illinois Betting Decline

Per the official report released by the Illinois Gaming Board, Illinois saw a $507.3 million bet on sports in May. This is down from the 5.6% from the $537.2 million wagered in April.

In terms of sports betting revenue, sportsbooks saw $36.2 million, down 17% month over month which is a major decline.

In April, Illinois was second in the nation in sports betting only to New Jersey. This decline marks the largest of the month.

The state still celebrated collected $5.9 million in taxes for May. This now brings the total sports betting tax revenue to $53.3 million in taxes since the launch in March 2020.

The legal sports betting market in Illinois was dominated by mobile and online betting.

DraftKings took the number one spot in May, seeing $166.2 million of the total betting handle and 34.5% of the online handle.

FanDuel saw $155.6 million wagered at their mobile sportsbook and held 32.2% of the total mobile betting handle.

Coming in third in May was BetRivers who saw a $76.7 million bet on sports and holding 15.9% of the total mobile handle.

Barstool Sportsbook and PointsBet rounded up the top five, seeing $38.2 million and $37.4 million respectively.

Sports betting in Illinois is still a thriving and successful market, clearing half a billion in handle and millions in revenue regularly.

While there was a decline in activity in May, Illinois is still one of the top legal gambling markets in the US constantly. Sports betting fluctuates throughout the year in different markets.

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