IL Reports Month-on-Month Revenue Fall
Recent figures released by the state of Illinois show that sports betting revenue experienced a month-on-month decrease of 20.8%. The total generated revenue for this sector amounted to $37.6 million in July 2021. Online gambling was easily the most popular and best-performing sector during this same period.
Sports betting revenue in the state of Illinois experienced a 20.5% month-on-month decrease in July 2021. The total amount of generated revenue here was $37.6 million. ©juergen-polle/Pixabay
Online Betting Easily the Most Popular Channel By Far
The midwestern US state of Illinois has released its latest revenue report for the month of July 2021, in which its sports betting sector experienced a 20.8% decrease in comparison to June’s total. Total revenue for this segment was $37.6 million.
The overall handle collected by this sector of Illinois’ gambling industry amounted to a total of $369.1 million, which was down 22% from the $476.5 million generated in June 2021.
Breaking down the results further reveals that online gambling was by far the highest performing and therefore most popular channel, making up $351.4 million of the state’s sports betting handle.
$178.8 million of this was bet on final results, while a further $169.1 million was wagered online on prop bets and points totals. Furthermore, an impressive 10 million plus bets were placed online during this period on professional sports matches.
Other verticals such as retail wagering made up just $17.7 million of Illinois’ sports betting total, which was divided up between $12.4 million wagered on in-person final results, with an extra $5 million going towards points total and prop bets.
In terms of specific sports, baseball was Illinois’ most popular sport to bet on, generating a total of $116.6 million in bets. Parlay bets came second here, with $62.7 million in bets, followed closely in third place by tennis with $40.5 million.
Curiously enough, Illinois’ sports betting revenue for July 2021 accounted for other unspecified events which generated a handle amounting to $3.2 million. Here, $2.5 million was spent on prop bets, with an additional $697,136 arriving from final results bets.
Revenue Decline Due to Dip in State Tax Take
The influence of physical retail gambling locations on Illinois’ sports betting revenue performance during July 2021 can be seen most clearly in Fairmount Park, which is currently partnered together with major sportsbook provider FanDuel. This location led the state’s sports betting market with a generated revenue of $15.5 million.
Next came DraftKings-affiliated Casino Queen with $9.1 million, followed in a not-so-distant third place by Penn National’s Midwest Gaming and Entertainment with $6.4 million, the latter of which is linked to Rivers Casino Des Plaines.
However, Casino Queen saw the most successful and lucrative in-person wagering, generating $488,255 through this form of betting. Alton Casino followed in second place here with a total revenue of $308,347.
One of the principal reasons behind the decline of Illinois’ sports betting revenue in July was the simultaneous dip in the state’s tax take. The amounts going to the state of Illinois fell from $7.7 million in June to $6.1 million in July.
IL Politicians Convened in May 2021 to Discuss Sports Betting
In May 2021, as much of the United States gradually came out of widespread lockdowns imposed to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, Illinois state politicians gathered to discuss the state of legal sports betting in the Prairie State. This came in response to the dramatic increase of legal sports gambling in the state during the first half of 2020.
The main issues which were discussed concerned whether Illinois should overturn an existing ban on betting on college sports. The main reason for what may seem like an arbitrary regulation is that bettors may get into contact with players and unfairly throw games.
As a result, State Representative Mike Zalewski proposed an amendment to his bill which sought to legalize college sports betting. It stipulated that if a local university or college produces sufficient evidence to believe that there has been foul play, college sports betting can be suspended for up to six months.
Tribal Gaming Also Experienced Revenue Drop this Summer
Sports betting revenue in Illinois wasn’t the only part of the nation’s gambling industry which experienced a drop in performance this year: the latest figures released by The National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) show that gross gaming revenue figures for tribal gaming in 2020 so far represent a 19.5% decrease when compared to 2019.
Tribal gaming’s recorded gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the year was $27.83 billion. The Sacramento region, which encompasses California and northern Nevada, generated $8.4 billion of this total, which still amounts as a 13.2% decrease from 2019’s results.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) E. Sequoyah Simermeyer attributed this drop to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic:
“This gross gaming revenue decrease was expected; the unknown was just how much of an impact COVID-19 had on Indian gaming. Every year, the annual GGR figure tells a story about Indian gaming’s successes, contributions to Indian communities, and economic impacts. This was highlighted even more during the pandemic.”– E. Sequoyah Simermeyer, Chairman, National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC)
