The Illinois sports betting market is a leader in the Midwest, and the state’s numbers continue to prove its dominance. People in Illinois are hungry to bet on sports, which has been evident throughout the football season.
The one bet that Illinois sports bettors hammered during November were parlays. Parlays are widely considered sucker bets in the industry because they are tough to win. It’s difficult to win a single bet, so prevailing on multiple outcomes is very hard.
This was obvious by the parlays numbers in Illinois during November.
Operators collected more than $44 million in parlays and posted an adjusted revenue of nearly $80 million during the month. The Illinois Gaming Board released the financial figures on Friday.
The Monthly Totals
The revenue total was the sixth-highest amongst legal gambling states since the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act was deemed unconstitutional in 2018. However, IL did not lead the nation in 2018.
The state ranked third in revenue behind New Jersey at $114.8 million and Pennsylvania at $84.9 million. It was the fourth state to reach a revenue amount of at least $70 million. Nevada was the other state to eclipse the standard with $72 million in revenue.
The biggest positive in Illinois during the month was the growth from October. The revenue figure was 50.8 percent higher than October’s $52.6 million revenue.
There have been 24 states to post numbers for November, and Illinois became the 21st state of the group to set a new record. Mississippi and South Dakota had their second-highest revenue figure of all time.
Arizona is the one state in the nation not to publish figures yet. Still, if predictions are accurate, the United States will have over a $7 billion handle for the second consecutive month. This is an astronomical figure considering sports betting has only been legal since 2018.
The handle did drop in Illinois in November, but sports betting operators still cleaned up with ease. The handle dropped 7.2 percent to $780 million from October’s $840.8 million. Since sports betting operators had a great month, so did the state in terms of taxes.
The state nearly took home $12 million in taxes, and this number is expected to rise in future months.
FanDuel is Leading in Revenue and Parlays are King
Illinois is a large sports betting market for multiple reasons. One of the most significant reasons Illinois is so dominant is because there are large-scale operators. Out of all the sportsbooks, FanDuel is leading the charge when it comes to revenue.
Throughout the year, there have been over $50 billion in parlays placed in the United States. Illinois contributed $1.3 billion to this total in 2021. FanDuel has been able to shine in the state because of the same game parlays.
Large operators like DraftKings and Caesars have been offering this type of wager. Yet, FanDuel was the first to push it to bettors in the state and throughout America. DraftKings is still collecting the most bets in the state, which makes sense because of the lucrative bonuses. Learn more about how to bet on DraftKings with the BParlay.com guide.
Yet, FanDuel is leading the charge for revenue amongst the six operators in the state. The total parlay handle was $166.4 million in November. This accounted for 21.3 percent of the overall handle, and $44.2 million of the revenue came from parlays.
FanDuel dominated with parlays, collecting $52.6 million in bets. Its parlay revenue was over $20 million during the month. Additionally, the operator has yielded $89.3 million in parlay revenue in the past seven months.
This is over $42.9 million than DraftKings in the same period.
