Illinois sports betting operators suffered their biggest year-over-year wagering decline in March since December, but they still escaped as winners.
Key Takeaways
- Illinois bettors placed 2 million fewer wagers on college sports compared to March 2025.
- The $1.39-billion handle was down nearly 7%.
- FanDuel feasted on bettors for the month.
The number of bets placed totaled 25.5 million in March, leading to a $1.39-billion monthly handle, down 6.7% year over year, the Illinois Gaming Board published in its latest report. There were nearly 10 million fewer wagers made by Prairie State customers than in March 2025, a 26.6% decrease, during one of the busiest sports months of the year.
There were a little over 4 million bets placed on college sports, nearly 2 million fewer wagers than the previous month of March Madness. Professional sports betting was down from 28 million to a little over 20 million.
However, online and retail operators did win back $129.2 million in adjusted gross revenue in March, the most profitable month year to date and up 35.3% compared to March 2025.
Despite the lower volume, sportsbooks feasted on more NCAA Tournament upsets and fewer No. 1 seeds reaching the Final Four than last year. The 9.3% hold was up nearly three points from the same month in 2025.
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Filling coffers
Illinois is the only U.S. state currently charging online operators a per-wager tax, which has resulted in a wagering decrease every month since sportsbooks began passing the cost on to customers through surcharges and betting minimums in September 2025.
Illinois sports betting law requires operators to pay out 25 cents for every 20 million bets, and 50 cents after that. The tax generated $10.9 million in March, filling Illinois coffers with a total of $57 million from sports betting.
Online operators accounted for $127.3 million of the state’s total sports betting adjusted revenue. FanDuel spent nearly $4.8 million on the per-wager tax, while it cost DraftKings over $4.3 million. No other online sportsbook reached $1 million on the per-wager tax.
Nearly $66 million from mobile operators went to Cook County, which contains Chicago and a 10.25% municipal tax.
FanDuel posts double-digit hold
| Online Operator | March Handle | Adjusted Revenue |
|---|---|---|
| DraftKings | $481.4 million | $43.6 million |
| FanDuel | $380.5 million | $43.8 million |
| Fanatics Sportsbook | $141.1 million | $10.6 million |
| BetRivers | $93.5 million | $6.9 million |
| BetMGM | $86.5 million | $6.8 million |
| bet365 | $76.4 million | $5.5 million |
FanDuel finished March with the second-highest handle but edged DraftKings in Illinois revenue behind an 11.5% hold that generated $43.8 million. DraftKings took home $43.6 million after winning back 9% of a $481.4-million handle.
Double-digit win rates were hard to come by for the rest of the major online operators in Illinois. Fanatics finished at 7.5% on a $141.1-million handle. BetRivers had a monster month in terms of volume, especially on parlays, coming in fourth with a $93.5-million handle.
However, the Illinois-based operator joined BetMGM and bet365 with holds below 8%.
Closing Wrigley
DraftKings announced this week that it is closing its retail shop adjacent to Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, on May 31.
“While we are proud of what we have built alongside the Chicago Cubs, we are taking a more focused approach to where we invest in the state,” DraftKings said in a statement. “The cost of operating in Illinois, including its high tax structure, makes it more difficult to justify continued investment in a standalone retail sportsbook. We remain committed to serving our mobile sportsbook customers.”
The Prairie State’s progressive tax structure takes 40% of DraftKings’ revenue, while the operator pays one of the two highest per-wager fees in the state.
