January was a record-setting month for the Illinois sports betting market. Sportsbook operators combined to bring in a total of $867.5 million in wagers to start the new year.
January Sports Betting Handle For Illinois
The month brought record sports betting handles for numerous jurisdictions in the industry. The handle saw an increase of 9.9 percent from December’s $789.6 million. Looking at the year-to-date figures, January 2022’s numbers have skyrocketed 49.2 percent from January 2021.
The state’s mobile sports betting handle also witnessed a new record thanks to the increase in the NFL’s schedule. January’s handle saw a total of $829.1 million, which is an increase of 10.1 percent from December’s $752.9 million.
The mobile handle was also up 44.1 percent from January 2021’s $575.2 million. The previous record only stood for a few months as it was set back in October as bettors across the state wagered a combined total of $803.4 million.
Revenue and Most Popular Sport to Bet on For the Month
The sports revenue hit $66.2 million in January, which was the second-highest monthly total in the state’s history. The revenue total was up a stunning 96.6 percent from December’s $33.7 million and 38.1 percent more than January 2021’s $47.9 million.
The state was able to collect 10.7 million in taxes from operators, which translates to a 6.8 percent hold. This was an increase of 96.9 percent from December’s $5.4 million.
Illinois continues to be a top-five market in the industry as the state had the fourth largest handle for the month. The only jurisdictions that had higher handles were New York ($1.686 billion), New Jersey ($1.349 billion), and Nevada ($1.109 billion).
Basketball was the most wagered sport in Illinois as college basketball is starting to take over. Bettors across the state wagered $275 million on the sport. Football secured the second position with a total of $229.6 million.
The other sports that rounded out the top five were tennis ($60.1 million), hockey ($30.8 million), and soccer ($30.7 million). Parlays made up $184.3 million, and the other sports category brought in $53 million.
Remote Registration Makes its Return in Illinois
Remote registration was temporarily brought in during the height of the pandemic in an effort to limit the number of people in a casino. People don’t have to go through the hassle of traveling across the state to register for a platform they want to use as of March 5th.
Some residents don’t live close to gaming facilities in order to sign up. BetMGM also launched on the same day mobile registration went live, which gives another option for users to choose from. Illinois is one of the states with a high barrier to entry for sportsbook operators.
The market share showed that DraftKings and FanDuel held the first and second positions without much competition, with 34.2 percent for DraftKings and 31.3 percent of the online handle for FanDuel. The rest that followed were BetRivers: (16.4 percent), (PointsBet 9.0 percent), Barstool (7.3 percent), and Caesars (1.8 percent).
With remote registration back, the Illinois sports betting market may be gearing up for new heights as March Madness will attract a high average betting volume, especially in Illinois. Wagering on in-state collegiate programs is still only allowed in retail sportsbook locations.
