Illinois sportsbooks have reached another milestone.
October marked the first time Illinois sports betting handle surpassed the $1 billion mark in a single month. Illinois is just the fourth state in U.S. history to produce a billion-dollar monthly handle from sports betting, joining New York, New Jersey and Nevada to reach that plateau.
In October, Illinois sportsbook handle increased 24% from September’s handle of about $832 million.
Three major sports leagues were in play, the NFL, the NBA and the NHL, giving Illinois sports bettors plenty to choose from. Nearly $360 million was bet on NFL games by Illinoisans last month.
According to the Illinois Gaming Board, licensed sports books also set a record with more than $100 million in revenue for the month.
Dave Briggs with PlayIllinois.com said he doesn’t see a slowdown anytime soon.
“I wouldn’t expect so, and then you get into the NFL playoffs, then you get into the Super Bowl, then into March Madness, so I don’t know if it will stay at a billion dollars a month for every month, but certainly it’s going to be right up there,” said Briggs.
So far this year, Illinois is second in the country in revenue at nearly $628 million and third in handle at nearly $7.7 billion.
Since the launch of sports betting in March of 2020, Illinois sports gamblers have bet $17 billion. The state’s twelve sports books have netted about $1.3 billion, and the total tax revenue for the state has reached nearly $205 million.
Critics note that the betting explosion has also led to a rise in gambling addiction, with calls to the state’s gambling addiction hotline reportedly doubling over the first year the industry was active in Illinois.
***Courtesy of the Illinois Radio Network***
