There might have been less traffic for Illinois sportsbooks in June, but they managed to make the most of it.
The Illinois Gaming Board recently reported the state’s online and retail sports-wagering handle for June was $476.5 million. It was the third straight monthly decline for the state, following the approximately $507.3 million in wagers for May, $537.2 million in bets for April, and $633.6 million in action for March.
Yet, Illinois sportsbooks were able to earn more from June’s weaker handle. According to the IGB, the adjusted gross sports wagering revenue for June, which is wagers minus payouts to winners and any adjustments made, amounted to $47.5 million, or a hold of about 10 percent. In May, the books managed to eke out $36.2 million, and had a win percentage of 7.1 percent.
The total sports-wagering-related tax collected in June in Illinois was approximately $7.7 million. The top sportsbook in Illinois in June was DraftKings, which took $160.2 million in online and retail wagers.
The latest numbers out of Illinois dovetail with a June trend for sports betting in the United States, which is operators managing to crank out higher revenue despite lower handle. In Illinois, the amount of action is also weighed down by the requirement for in-person registration and the ban on wagering on the state’s college teams.
The end of an (in-person) era?
There is, however, an incoming tailwind for the Illinois sports betting market. The Illinois Gaming Board published on Thursday its short- and long-form applications for three online-only sports wagering operator licenses, which would be a tweak to the state's current framework that is tethered to brick-and-mortar locations.
The three licenses come with a $20-million fee, but the regulator says they would end the need for in-person registration when they are awarded.
“Upon completion of the statutory competitive selection process and issuance of the first online-only sports wagering operator license, the requirement for in-person sports wagering account registration” under the state’s sports-wagering law would be terminated, the gaming board said in a press release.
