With the removal of in-person registration and the excitement that comes with the NCAA Basketball Tournament, Illinois experienced a sports betting boom in March.
Handle came in at $971.3m, a 53.3% increase from March 2021. Of these wagers, $278.4m came from bets on March Madness. This easily surpasses the state’s previous record of $867.5m set in January.
In terms of revenue, sportsbooks won $79.4m, up 155.6% from February's $31.1m. This revenue surpasses the Prairie State’s previous record of $78.2m.
From this, the state collected $9.8m in tax revenue.
This growth can mainly be attributed to two factors. Firstly, the NCAA Basketball Tournament took place, greatly increasing the state-wide interest in sports and sports wagering. Secondly, and perhaps of even greater importance, Illinois removed in-person registration rules for online betting on March 5. Thus, removing a layer of inconvenience for predominantly online bettors.
Indeed, online was king in March, making up 95.5% of all bets. FanDuel, as with much of the country, was the leading sportsbook during this period, with handle of $315.3m. DraftKings followed close behind with $289.2m in wagers.
Basketball made up the vast majority of bets during March, with a combination of the NCAA and NBA bringing in $554.3m in wagers. No other sport even came close to this number during the month, with tennis coming in second with a paltry $64m in wagers.
The removal of in-person betting registration ultimately marks a paradigm shift for sports wagering in Illinois and it remains to be seen just how profitable the state can be when the sporting calendar picks up once more.
