Illinois casino revenue in January from the state’s 11 casinos was $112.6 million, down 1.6% from December 2022 but well ahead of the way last year started.
And this news comes amid a new effort to make Illinois online casino options legal and regulated, plus a record period for the state’s sportsbooks.
Illinois January Casino Revenue Breakdown
Compared to the same month a year ago, January 2023 was a substantial increase. The $112.6 million was a jump of 28.3% over January 2022 ($87.77 million).
On the casino floors, the sources of the January revenue – a total of $112,615,688, to be exact – were $84.3 million primarily from slot machines (technically referred to as electronic gaming devices, or EGDs) and $28.3 million from table games.
Among casinos, Rivers Casino in des Plaines, the state’s largest with 78,500 square feet, was the runaway leader with nearly $45.6 million in revenue, a drop of about $1.6 million from the facility’s December Illinois casino revenue total.
Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin was No.2 with nearly $12 million in revenue. And in third place was Harrah's Joliet Casino & Hotel in Joliet with $10.77 million in revenue.
The rest of the state’s casinos revenues were (alphabetically): Argosy, $2.8 million; Bally's Quad Cities Casino & Hotel, $4.6 million; DraftKings at Casino Queen, $6.4 million; Hard Rock in Rockford, about $5 million; Harrah's Metropolis Casino, $5.2 million; Hollywood Casino Aurora, $8 million; Hollywood Casino Joliet, $7.4 million, and Par-A-Dice Hotel Casino, nearly $5 million.
As far as tax allocations were concerned for January 2023, the state share was $12.9 million and the local share was a little more than $6.4 million.
Illinois iGaming Proposals Introduced
This week, two Illinois iGaming proposals were introduced in the state legislature.
Two Democratic lawmakers put online casino bills forward – state Sen. Cristina Castro (Elgin) and Rep. Edgar Gonzalez Jr. (Chicago) – but they might have a long way to go in a state where similar ideas have stalled out before.
If the legislation were to pass, a 15% tax would be imposed on operators of online games such as roulette, slots, or card games.
As for Illinois sportsbooks, the handle topped $1 billion for the third month in a row in December. Sportsbook figures are reported about a month after land-based casino revenue is posted.
The revenue from sports betting was over $82 million in December but, in states with both iGaming and sports wagering, the online casino options have proven to be more lucrative and less volatile streams of tax revenue.
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