All About Sports Betting Handle And Revenue in Illinois

By Christopher Boan

@cgboan

January 15, 2026 11:43am

The experts at IllinoisBet.com have assembled this guide to explain what we mean when we talk about financial figures from Illinois sportsbooks, which include handle, revenue and tax collections.

The sports betting market in Illinois includes retail sportsbooks at the state’s casinos, plus mobile sports betting apps.

In the financial language of sports betting, handle is simply the total of all sports wagers made in the state during one calendar month. The handle can be specified as either retail (in person) or online (using a device such as a laptop, desktop or mobile phone). In Illinois, bettors wager hundreds of millions of dollars each month – sometimes more than a billion dollars – and the vast majority of the action is on Illinois betting apps.

Revenue is what is left for the gambling operators after winnings are paid out. The tax collections from sports gambling is determined by a 15% tax rate (plus additional taxes for wagers placed in Cook County and the City of Chicago) that is applied to the operators’ Revenue.

Sport gambling in the Land of Lincoln was legalized in 2019 with the Sports Wagering Act. The first legal sports bet was placed in March 2020.

Illinois Sports Betting, November vs. October

💰 Visit our Illinois Tax Calculator to see how much you owe from your winnings

The penultimate month of 2025 delivered historic results across the board for Illinois sports betting. The state set records in all categories during November, according to numbers that the Illinois Gaming Board website reported on Jan. 15.

Overall, November’s total sports betting handle in Illinois was $1,656,687,204, up 3.2% from October ($1,604,945,180), which was a record that stood for just a month. The mobile sports betting handle statewide was $1,618,631,789 for November, also resetting October’s mark of $1,567,754,084 by 3.2%

November’s total sports betting revenue was $169,061,222, a 25.2% increase in a month-over-month comparison with October, when revenue hit $135,014,114. That set another new record, breaking the standard of $154,606,065, which was from November 2024. Illinois mobile sportsbook operators combined for $165,956,175 for the 11th month of 2025, up 25.8% from October ($131,942,253) and breaking the record of $151,340,661, also set in November 2024.

November’s total sports betting tax was $69,900,911, up 20.9% from $57,807,508 in October as the state broke its record in consecutive months. Taxes derived from mobile sportsbooks hit $69,122,722, up 21.4% from $56,926,981 in the previous month and marking the final record to be reset in November.

Illinois Mobile Sports Betting History