All About Sports Betting Handle And Revenue in Illinois
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, September vs. August
| Total handle | Mobile handle | Revenue |
September | $1423.138M | $1387.509M | $100.690M |
August | $1029.422M | $1004.580M | $107.797M |
Change | Up 38.2% | Up 38.1% | Down 6.6% |
đź’° Visit our Illinois Tax Calculator to see how much you owe from your winnings
The return of regular-season NFL games sparked an increase in sports betting during September, according to data released by the Illinois Gaming Board.
September’s total handle of $1,423,138,270 was up 38.2% from the $1,029,422,295 that was wagered in the Land of Lincoln during August. Mobile betting accounted for 97.5% of the betting traffic as Illinois licensed online sports betting operators reported a handle of $1,387,508,583 for the month. That was up 38.1% from the $1,004,580,266 bet online in August.
Sports bettors enjoyed a better month in September as operators reported a slight dip in monthly revenue. Sportsbooks generated $100,690,276 in revenue for the ninth month of 2025, down 6.6% from the $107,796,774 they won in August. Mobile wagering accounted for a 6.9% drop, from $105,874,605 in August to the $98,558,650 that sportsbooks recorded the following month.
Despite the drop in operator revenue, sports betting tax proceeds increased from month to month. September’s tax receipts totaled $39,493,020, which was 18.1% better than August’s collections of $33,450,552. Taxes from online wagering increased 18.2%, from $32,951,981 in the eighth month of the year to $38,946,045 in September.
Besides taxing revenue, Illinois also levies a surcharge on each bet placed. That tax – $0.25 for the first 20 million bets taken by an operator and $0.50 for all bets placed beyond that – generated $10,561,853 in September, up 98.8% from the $5,312,759 reported in August.
Illinois Mobile Sports Betting History
Illinois Sports Betting Handle and Revenue FAQ
Illinois sports betting handle from January to December 2024 exceeded $14.01 billion, up 20.6% form 2023 ($11.62 billion). Revenue was $1.214 billion last year (up 21.2% from the previous year's $1.002 billion) and the state collected more than $277.5 million in taxes for the 2024 calendar year.
Author
Steve is an accomplished, award-winning reporter with more than 20 years of experience covering gaming, sports, politics and business. He has written for the Associated Press, Reuters, The Louisville Courier Journal, The Center Square and numerous other publications. Based in Louisville, Ky., Steve has covered the expansion of sports betting in the U.S. and other gaming matters.
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