All About Sports Betting Handle And Revenue in Illinois

By Editorial Staff

June 13, 2025 11:03am

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, April vs. March

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The post-March Madness sports betting swoon bit sports betting operators in Illinois during April, as the number of wagers accepted dropped off. April has the Final Four for the men’s and women’s NCAA Basketball Tournaments but nowhere near the volume as the month before for the popular event.

Overall, Illinois sportsbooks took in $1,284,273,932 in sports betting handle (or wagered placed) during April, down 14.1% from March ($1,494,276,828). The Prairie State’s mobile sports betting handle was $1,254,554,515 during April, a 14.2% decrease from $1,461,559,460 in March.

But handle and taxes derived from sports betting increased in a month-to-month comparison, according to numbers reported by the Illinois Gaming Board. In total, Illinois’ sports betting revenue hit $108,606,963 in April, a 13.7% increase from March ($95,479,076). Statewide mobile sportsbook operators reported a 13.9% increase, from $93,697,705 the previous month to $106,693,511 in April.

That surge in sports betting revenue directly correlated with a jump in wagering taxes, with $39,947,295 collected in total for April. That was a 14.9% spike from March ($34,776,567). Online outlets recorded a 15% jump, from $34,286,687 in March to $39,439,926 for the following month.

During April, the collective with the largest share of the state’s wagering handle total was professional sports, at $1,238,320,385. College sports had a total handle of $39,127,262, special events finished up at $5,566,671 and motor racing drew $1,259,614 in handle for the fourth month of the year.

Illinois Mobile Sports Betting History