With an Illinois sports betting handle of nearly $600 million in September, the state currently sits third behind New Jersey and Nevada for the month.
New Jersey became the first state to top $1 billion in September and Nevada took in $786.5 million, both records for those states. The $596.4 million posted by Illinois topped Pennsylvania’s $578.8 million. They were the second-highest months recorded in Illinois and Pennsylvania.
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The Illinois total handle was up 49% from August’s $400.4 million. Total wagering for the month was boosted by NFL betting.
Illinois Sports Betting Handle, September vs. August
| Total handle | Mobile Handle | Revenue | |
|---|---|---|---|
| September | $596.496M | $569.899M | $39.991M |
| August | $400.360M | $380.217M | $26.849M |
| Change | Up 49.0% | Up 49.9% | Up 48.9% |
Here are three key takeaways about Illinois gambling from the September sports wagering report, released by the Illinois Gaming Board.
Football Rules
No one can deny the pull of NFL betting. In Illinois in September, it accounted for $230.6 million of the total handle or about 39%. The Chicago Bears play Monday night against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Parlay bets also proved to be popular, with $125.7 million wagered. Baseball betting came in at just under $116 million.
US Tops $5B for September
The total from Illinois put the U.S. over $5 billion (about $5.2 billion) in total handle in September with one big state still left to report — Arizona (Connecticut also has a few days of September retail sports betting to report). It didn’t hurt that New Jersey and Nevada had about $1.8 billion combined.
The U.S. was just over $3 billion in August. Illinois is no longer the last state to report monthly sports betting figures. Arizona, which launched its market on Sept. 9, says it won’t have September numbers until Nov. 25.
In-Person Registration Ending
What’s impressive about the Illinois numbers is that in-person registration is still in effect. Just Illinois and Nevada require bettors to finish their registration at casinos. In Illinois that will end no later than March 5, 2022.
A bill that ends the in-person registration requirement was approved by the Illinois legislature at the end of October during a special veto session. HB 3136 also allows for limited wagering on state college teams and adds the home of the WNBA champions as a sports betting venue.
The Illinois September mobile sports betting handle was $569.9 million or 95.5% of the market.
