Illinois ranks second for sports betting in April with nearly $900M worth of wagers

Illinois Gaming Board’s latest report shows that the state ranked second in sports bets for April, with operators handling nearly $900 million worth of wagers. Even though Illinois saw a 16% dip as compared to March this year, the state improved its Year-on-Year performance, as it generated 7% more than April 2022’s $839 million.

The dip from March, which was the best Illinois sports betting month in history, was attributed to the absence of NFL games in April, the lack of Chicago teams in the NBA and NHL playoffs, and only the Final Four and championship games of the NCAA basketball tournaments being played during the month, reports Play Illinois. 

In terms of revenue, Illinois raked in over $81 million, with only New York doing better with more than $139 million. They are the only two states among the top 10 US sports betting jurisdictions showing growth in 2023. Illinois also ranked second in April when it came to total taxes generated from sports betting, collecting over $14.4 million, again only behind New York’s $71 million.

The main driver of the month for Illinois was online sports betting, which made up for 98% of the overall wagers accepted. Only $2.4 million of the revenue came from brick-and-mortar locations.

Through the first four months of the year, Illinois ranks second in handle (almost $4 billion) behind only New York’s $6.6 billion. It is also second in revenue with over $340.5 million, again only behind NY at over $561 million.

As for Illinois’ leading sportsbooks in April, FanDuel took in $310.4 million in wagers and produced a state-best revenue of $38.9 million. DraftKings ranked second with a handle of $278.8 million and revenue of just under $25 million.