Illinois Hits Another Month over $500M in Sports Betting Handle

The Illinois sports betting industry continues to post some impressive numbers, even if the May numbers did drop from the previous month. The total sports betting handle in May was $507.3 million, a drop of nearly six percent from April.

Much of the United States sports betting industry saw a dip in total handle for May and the lack of football and college basketball. Illinois also hurt itself with new in-person registration requirements, but it wasn’t enough to cause a major decline in the action.

Even though new accounts must be created in-person, online wagering still accounted for 95% of the total handle in the state. In May, the online sports betting handle came in at $482.6 million, a decrease of exactly six percent from April.

There is a troubling trend that is starting to develop in Illinois as the total sports betting handle has slipped for two straight months. The March sports betting handle jumped all the way up to $633 million, and it has steadily declined since then.

With the slight drop in online sports betting handle, the retail handle actually increased in the month of May. The retail handle was $24.7 million after it was just $23.9 million in April.

The biggest problem found in the report from the Illinois Gaming Board is that the total revenue and tax revenue took a major hit in May. These are the numbers that are most important to operators and for the entire state.

Sportsbooks in Illinois posted a total revenue of $36.2 million in May, a decrease of 17% from the April revenue. This brought in just $5.34 million in tax revenue for the state, a drop of almost 25 percent from April.

Illinois still has some operators waiting to launch in the state, but there won’t be many new operators joining until the return of NFL football in September. This will also be the next big month for the state in terms of both handle and revenue.

Only Trailing New Jersey

Even though Illinois saw another drop in handle and revenue for the month, the Land of Lincoln was still the second biggest sports betting market in the US. Illinois continues to be the last state to announce sports betting numbers, and it blew past every other state but New Jersey.

Illinois and New Jersey were the only two states to go over the $500 million mark in total betting handle, but the gap between the two states is still large. New Jersey actually saw a jump in monthly sports betting numbers, and there was $814.2 million wagered.

New Jersey does not have an in-person registration requirement in place, and that allows the state to continue to see plenty of growth. It has been over a year since New Jersey flew past Nevada to take over the top spot.

Nevada ($477.2 million) and Pennsylvania ($447.4 million) are third and fourth place on the list, respectively.