Illinois Sportsbooks Notch Third Consecutive Billion Dollar Month

Written By Nicholaus Garcia on February 15, 2023
Illinois Closes 2022 $1 Billion Sports Betting Handle

To close out 2022, Illinois sportsbooks topped $1 billion in sports betting handle for the third consecutive month. 

According to figures released by the Illinois Gaming Board (IGB), over $1.029 billion was gambled through IL sportsbooks in December. In total, nearly $10 billion was bet in 2022. 

Three months of $1 billion in handle:

  1. October 2022 – $1.03 billion
  2. November 2022 – $1.03 billion
  3. December 2022 – $1.029 billion

Illinois sportsbooks join exclusive sports betting class

Illinois joins a small class of states that have posted three consecutive months of billion-dollar-handle. The others are New York, New Jersey and Nevada.

State lawmakers are also happy with the outcome of legal, regulated sports betting. For the year, sportsbooks contributed nearly $128 million
in tax revenue
. As for lifetime contributions, the state has collected almost $233 million since June 2019. 

In December alone, state and local coffers collected $13 million, down from the $15.5 million generated in November. Totals for December 2022 include:

  • Handle: $1,028,471,257
  • Revenue: $81,407,470
  • Hold: 7.9%
  • State taxes: $13,186,151

FanDuel remains top earner in Illinois

When it comes to the top revenue generator in the state, once again, the FanDuel Sportsbook reigns supreme. 

The FanDuel Sportsbook at Fairmount Park generated $37.4 million in revenue with a hold of 10.7%. The popular sportsbooks contributed $6 million in state taxes with $350 million in handle. 

Illinois has nine retail sportsbooks and seven online sportsbooks. The top four, in terms of revenue, are:

  1. FanDuel – $37.4 million
  2. DraftKings – $22 million
  3. BetRivers – $8.1 million
  4. PointsBet – $3.4 million

Illinois ranks second in the US regarding total gross gaming revenue. New York is on top with nearly $1.4 billion. Illinois produced $806 million, followed by New Jersey with $763 million. 

Lifetime sports betting revenue rankings:

  1. New Jersey — nearly $2.37 billion
  2. Nevada — nearly $1.7 billion
  3. Illinois — nearly $1.5 billion
  4. Pennsylvania — nearly $1.5 billion
  5. New York — $1.41 billion
Photo by Graphic by Playin USA
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Nicholaus Garcia

Nick Garcia is a senior reporter for Playin USA. Garcia provides analysis and in-depth coverage of the gambling industry with a key focus on online casinos, sports betting and financial markets. Garcia has been covering the US gambling market since 2017. He attended Texas Tech University as an undergrad and received a Master of Arts in Journalism from Columbia College Chicago.

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