Illinois sports betting handle settles under $600m for September

Yesterday, the Illinois Gaming Board reported that the state’s betting handle for September reached just over $596 million. This number was a solid number but fell short of the state’s record handle month of March when over $633 million in bets were generated. With the monthly totals now in, along with a few other states, the US has now seen over $5 billion wagered within one month, a new milestone for the nation.

With the large September bet total, Illinois is now the 4^th state in the country to go over the $6 billion mark in the betting handle. The only other states to do so are Nevada, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

Individual Breakdown in Illinois

For the state, it was DraftKings that reigned supreme. The operator is the only one that has been able to earn $200 million in the monthly handle. They hit $231 million in bets in September, according to sources, but bettors were the winner.

Sports fans were able to gain wins in baseball, earning over $660,000 while basketball bettors came out on top under $47,000. The leading revenue earner for DraftKings was parlay bets, with over $8 million claimed from more than $49 million in wagers. This led to a just over 16% win rate.

DraftKings held the market share with over 40%, followed by FanDuel at 27.2% and BetRivers at 15.3%. PointsBet came in at 4^th followed by Caesars in 5^th. It will be quite hard for FanDuel and BetRivers to catch up with DraftKings at this point, especially since the brand has such a large percentage of the market already.

Retail Betting Numbers

When it comes to the retail sector in Illinois, Rivers Casino is the top spot. The casino continues to hold the market share, having seen almost $11 million in bets for September. The casino earned $1 million in revenues for the month, the fifth time the venue has done so since sports betting started in the state back in early 2020.

In general, retail outlets were on a roll in September. Altogether, the venues generated over $25 million in betting handle, beating a record from October of last year at just under $25 million. Players in Illinois have taken to sports betting and both the retail and online sectors are profiting from player participation.

As the current football season continues, we expect the revenue and bet totals will continue to climb, either matching the monthly numbers or perhaps even boosting totals in the future, especially as the Super Bowl draws near.