Befitting the third-largest sports betting market in 2023, there was plenty of action in Illinois last year.
There was a new mobile operator in Circa Sports, which also took the reins at The Temporary in Waukegan for retail wagering. But even without the Las Vegas-based sportsbook’s entrance and three new retail venues opening throughout the year, existing operators across Illinois were taking more bets with higher handle — and winning more revenue.
A compilation of 2023 monthly sports betting reports published by the Illinois Gaming Board showed there were more than 324 million wagers placed at either retail sportsbooks or online via sports betting apps, which comes out to nearly one per person in the United States. The IGB is one of the few states that publishes wagering volume in addition to handle and revenue, and there were interesting nuggets with practically every column sort.
Let’s talk parlays
| Mobile Sportsbook | Number of Parlay Wagers | Handle | Amount of Average Wager | Operator Revenue | Win Rate | Tax Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barstool/ESPN BET | 3,372,595 | $126,131,749 | $37.40 | $19,331,656 | 15.33% | $2,899,748 |
| BetMGM | 5,065,439 | $120,938,359 | $23.88 | $14,884,388 | 12.31% | $2,232,658 |
| BetRivers | 7,328,659 | $227,921,561 | $31.10 | $38,584,545 | 16.93% | $5,787,682 |
| Caesars | 2,027,681 | $115,327,172 | $56.88 | $14,916,086 | 12.93% | $2,237,413 |
| DraftKings | 66,343,371 | $1,157,665,914 | $17.45 | $174,575,778 | 15.08% | $26,186,367 |
| FanDuel | 106,114,848 | $1,368,723,714 | $12.90 | $291,021,547 | 21.26% | $43,653,232 |
| PointsBet | 4,405,316 | $154,884,930 | $35.16 | $27,178,589 | 17.55% | $4,076,788 |
| TOTALS | 194,657,909 | $3,271,593,399 | $16.81 | $580,492,589 | 17.74% | $87,073,888 |
It has been long established that Illinois bettors love their parlays. They do not necessarily fare well with such wagers — the statewide hold in 2023 was 17.7% — but they love them all the same. Out of those 324 million-plus bets placed in 2023, a whopping 196.8 million of them were parlays. That comes out to almost 16 parlays per person among the 12.5 million Land of Lincoln residents.