There was a bit of a shuffle atop the leaderboard for Illinois officially claimed the No. 2 spot nationally Wednesday after the state’s gaming board reported a traditional handle of more than $537.1 million.
Illinois’ reports lags behind other states in of disclosure due to ing rules and a longer period for operators to disclose their numbers. While the April figure was 15.2% below March’s record handle of New Jersey lapped the field at just shy of $748 million.
April’s handle marked a high-water point in of national ranking for Illinois, which began accepting wagers in March 2020 and launched online operators last June. As the Prairie State moved up, Nevada slid down — the Silver State’s Pennsylvania, which had sports betting handle $479.4 million. It was the first time in the post-PASPA era outside of COVID-19 related reporting that Nevada finished a month below No. 2.
Illinois sportsbooks generated more than $43.6 million in adjusted gross revenue, resulting in a hold of 8.12%. The higher win rate compared to March (6.99%) resulted in a drop-off of AGR of less than $1 million compared to last month. The state collected $6,540,899 in tax receipts, while Cook County separately claimed $527,100 in tax receipts from the over $26.3 million in AGR generated on wagers within the county.
Illinois also became the fourth state in the post-PASPA era to clear $4 billion in handle, ing New Jersey, Nevada, and Pennsylvania.
FanDuel notches online handle and revenue double 27559
Online wagering totaled more than $515.1 million for April, ing for close to 96% of the completed events handle of nearly $539 million. FanDuel, which extended its run as the top online revenue generator in Illinois to five months with more than $15.8 million, finally added the top monthly online handle crown for the first time since entering the state in late August.
FanDuel generated more than $177.3 million in online wagers in April and ed DraftKings in clearing $1 billion in such bets placed in Illinois since launch. The two companies ed for nearly two-thirds of the mobile handle for April as DraftKings was a strong second with more than $165.6 million in accepted wagers.
PointsBet for fourth in its first full month of mobile wagering. The Penn National Gaming partner accepted nearly $51 million in wagers, while Australian-based PointsBet generated handle of nearly $40.2 million. That was a drop of 24.1% from March, but PointsBet’s handle total was comparable to both January and February as it sured $300 million since accepting its first bets in Illinois last September.
DraftKings also finished second in online revenue with more than $11.4 million, followed by BetRivers ($7.1 million), Barstool ($3.8m), PointsBet ($2.75m) and William Hill ($185,814) to round out the state’s six mobile operators. William Hill does not offer parlays and has a limited menu for in-play wagering.
The overall hold for online wagering was 7.98%, with BetRivers leading the sextet at 9.79% and FanDuel second at 8.91%.
Parlays continue to be primary revenue generator 4p2k4o
Even with bettors slightly improving on parlay wagers compared to March, the house win rate of 16.34% in April resulted in operator revenue of more than $19 million on more than $116.4 million in bets. Parlay revenue ed for more than 43% of all April revenue and has totaled more than $75.5 million in Illinois through the first four months of 2021.
Basketball, which generated the highest handle in any category with more than $173.6 million, was the top revenue producer among sports with more than $9 million. Baseball also reached nine figures in handle with more than $121 million, with operators collecting nearly $8.3 million.
The house did exceptionally well when it came to golf bets, generating more than $2.5 million in revenue with a 16.43% hold on $15.2 million wagered. Soccer was the only other sport to generate more than $2 million in revenue in Illinois in April, but the hold in that spot was a more modest 7.17% with $31.1 million wagered.
Sportsbooks were also still rewarding bettors for their winning football picks, with the $3.5 million in payouts exceeding the nearly $3.1 million in bets placed for the month.
Rivers Sportsbook dominates retail scene 4v4w5v
The retail sportsbooks in Illinois contributed nearly $2.7 million to the revenue total, posting an 11.22% hold on nearly $23.9 million wagered. Rivers Casino in Des Plaines just outside of Chicago ed for nearly half that handle ($11.9 million) and paced all brick-and-mortar sportsbooks with slightly more than $1.1 million in revenue.
The only other retail sportsbook to clear more than $200,000 in revenue was DraftKings at Casino Queen. The East St. Louis venue generated $761,689 on slightly less than $4.2 million wagered, resulting in an 18.2% win rate.
In its first full month of retail operation, FanDuel Sportsbook and Horse Racing — formerly known as Fairmount Park — generated $545,966 in handle and $24,566 in revenue, resulting in a 4.5% hold. Hawthorne Race Course, the state’s other horse racing track with a sports betting license via PointsBet, generated more than $1.2 million in handle and $140,292 in revenue.
Hawthorne, though, does have two off-track betting sites taking wagers in Crestwood and Prospect Heights in addition to its track location in Stickney on the south side of Chicago.
