There’s mostly good news on the sports betting front in Illinois and Iowa.
The Illinois Sports Gaming Board reported that more than $1.029 billion was gambled in-person and online in December, giving the state three straight months of a handle of more than $1 billion and nearly $10 billion bet in 2022. Meanwhile, the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission reported $233.6 million in bets both in-person and online in January. While that’s a 23% decrease from the $303.3 million bet in January 2022, it’s more than the $229.9 million bet in December 2022.
The three months of $1 billion-plus in handle for sports betting in Illinois were October ($1.03 billion), November ($1.03 billion) and December ($1.029 billion). Only three states have had three consecutive months of billion-dollar handle. They are New York, New Jersey and Nevada.
$128 million in tax revenue
Illinois lawmakers have to be happy with the results of legal, regulated sports betting in the state. For the year, sports books produced nearly $128 million in tax revenue. Lifetime, the figure is $233 million since June 2019.
Sports books contributed $13 million in revenue to the state in December. That’s down from the $15.5 million in November. The handle was $1,028,471,257, the revenue was $81,407,470, the hold was 7.9% and state taxes were $13,186,151.
The FanDuel Sportsbook at Fairmont Park remained the top revenue producer in the state with $37.4 million and a hold of 10.7%. It contributed $6 million in state taxes with $350 million in handle. Illinois has nine retail sports books and seven online sports books. The top five, looking at revenue for December, were $37.4 million for FanDuel, $22 million for DraftKings, $8.1 million for BetRivers and $3.4 million for PointsBet.
In Iowa
Meanwhile, in Iowa, betting revenue last month was $16.5 million, an increase from the $14.3 million in January 2022 but behind the $20.4 million bet in December. Out of the $16.5 million, $15.3 million was generated by online sports betting and remaining $1.25 million from in-person wagers.
Bettors spent $207.7 million online last month. Some $25.9 million was bet at physical sportsbooks.
Diamond Jo in Dubuque was No. 1 in Iowa sports betting with $5.84 million in revenue from its $56.7 million handle. Wild Rose in Jefferson and its DraftKings SportsBook got more than $2.0 million in revenue from $34.2 million in total bets.
Caesars got $1.73 million in revenue from a $35.5 million handle. BetMGM got $1.72 in revenue from $17.2 million in total bets.
Sports betting tax revenue for January was $1.1 million.
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