CHICAGO - As an annual summer pilgrim to America’s Best Warm-Weather City, I have placed (too many) bets from Chicago hotel rooms, sports stadiums, and dive bars as a (very) part-time “resident.” I hurt alongside Illinois bettors when the state became the first to implement a per-bet tax, to which the state’s legal sportsbooks responded by launching minimum bet amounts or a passed-along fee to every wager.
I documented that pain on this year’s trip.
It’s never fun to see your bet on a Wednesday night White Sox-Rays game subject to a fee - or that your 12-leg college football parlay’s dollar value was too small to be accepted.
Announced Illinois sports betting per bet surcharge/minimums:
— Ryan Butler (@ButlerBets) August 26, 2025
bet365: TBD
BetMGM: $2.50 minimum
BetRivers: $1 min
Circa: $10 min
Caesars: $0.25 fee
DraftKings: $0.50 fee
ESPN BET: $1 min
Fanatics: $0.25 fee
FanDuel: $0.50 fee
Hard Rock: $2 min
And it was undoubtedly a less enjoyable experience - at least with several books.
I placed one $10 non-parlay bet on the first 10 NFL Week 2 games at each of the legal Illinois sports betting sites. For those fearing the per-bet fee experience in the (seemingly) unlikely event it spreads to other states, or those “fellow” Illinois bettors suffering through it now, here’s my experience across the state’s legal sportsbooks from most bearable to least.
Top Tier: Fanatics
Though Fanatics announced a per-bet fee, none was charged on my $10 bet. I also tried a $1 bet, but again, no fee was applied. I triple-checked my FanCash to be sure there were no deductions.
It’s unclear if this was luck on my part, a promotion I wasn’t aware of, or something else entirely, but I was not charged the announced $0.25 fee on a bet of any size, nor was I prohibited from placing a small bet, the approach the books in the next tier have taken.
Even if temporary, this no fee/no minimum puts Fanatics in a tier of its own.
Second Tier: ESPN BET / BetMGM / Hard Rock / BetRivers
These books all had minimums less than the $10 I was looking to bet. All four made it clear in the bet slip that there was a minimum. With no fee and a low minimum, it felt no different betting in Illinois than it does in a state without a surcharge.
Third Tier: Circa / bet365
Circa has a $10 minimum bet, the highest of any sportsbook in the state. bet365 waives its fee for bets $10 or higher. In either case, I didn’t have to pay a fee on my Week 2 NFL bets.
It’s undoubtedly inconvenient for bettors to look to place a bet less than $10 (which for me makes up the vast majority of my parlays), but for “day-to-day” straight bets such as totals and spreads, it was not a big handicap to my personal gambling experience.
Fourth Tier: DraftKings
DraftKings is among the books with the dreaded “no matter what” fee. This sportsbook rises up the list slightly because it is waived for parlays - not surprising, given DraftKings (and all books) see higher profit margins on these offerings.
I took “advantage” of this “promotion” by placing a “safe” two-leg parlay to avoid one $0.50 charge. That was not the case on my other $10 straight bet on Dallas -5.5.
Fifth Tier: Caesars
Caesars didn’t offer the exemption: All bets are subject to a $0.25 fee. But that’s at least half the rate charged to the last book on the list.
Bottom Tier: FanDuel
When you’re the highest-grossing sportsbook with the most customers, you get away with a lot that other books couldn’t. It still was a bummer to fork over $0.50 on a straight bet that, based off my betting history, I was going to lose anyway.
Final Thoughts
For FanDuel and DraftKings bettors, which make up the majority of Illinois legal sportsbook customers, it's hard not to notice a fee tacked on to every wager. For most of the other books, it's hard to notice a big difference.
The question now becomes: Will Illinois bettors comfortable with the two market leaders switch to other legal books or even leave the regulated market in what is (currently) the nation’s second-highest-grossing sports betting jurisdiction?
