Illinois’s sports betting market experienced its first month-on-month decline in February, with the state’s Gaming Board reporting a fall in both revenue and handle.
Adjusted gross revenue for the month amounted to $35.4m, down 28.3% from the record $49.4m reported in January, and the first decline since the state’s licensees took their first bets in July 2020.
Online wagering accounted for $33.3m of total revenue for the month, some way ahead of land-based sportsbooks on $2.1m.
Par-A-Dice Gaming Corporation, which runs a FanDuel sportsbook, remained the market with $11.7m in revenue, despite posting a $24,123 loss from retail betting.
Casino Queen and DraftKings followed close behind in second with $10.9m in revenue, then Churchill Downs’ Midwest Gaming & Entertainment and Rush Street Interactive on $7.5m.
Operators paid some $5.8m in tax, with the majority of this – $5.3m – based on the state’s base 15% tax rate. The remaining $541,832 was generated via an additional 2% tax on bets placed in Cook County, which includes Chicago.
In term of handle, players wagered a total of $509.8m on sport during February, down 12.3% from a record $581.6m in January.
Amounts wagered online stood at $490.2m for the month, ahead of land-based on $19.6m.
Professional sports accounted for $371.2m, while $137.2m was spent wagering on collegiate sports events, and the remaining $1.4m motor racing.
Basketball was again the most popular sport to bet on, attracting $256.7m in bets during February.
Tennis wagers amounted to $45.3m in the month, while $94.1m was attributed to parlay betting.
Last week, in-person registration was re-introduced in Illinois after Executive Order 2020-41, which suspended Illinois’ in-person registration requirement, expired at midnight on April 3.
The order was first signed off by Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker, initially brought into place due to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19), allowing players to register online rather than travelling to a physical sportsbook.
It was then extended several times as the pandemic progressed, but the latest extension expired this month and was not renewed.