The Illinois Gaming Board reported traditional sports wagering handle of close to $628.5 million for June late Thursday, marking the second consecutive month Illinois narrowly finished behind New Jersey for the No. 2 spot nationally behind New York.
The gap in June between New Jersey and Illinois was larger than May, but still small at $4.7 million after being separated by $1.8 million previously. Illinois, though, did widen the distance between itself and Nevada for all of 2022, extending its lead in handle to $370 million more than the Silver State. Illinois generated nearly $4.8 billion handle in the first half of 2022 and close to $13.7 billion since accepting its first wagers in March 2020.
The betting public brought operators down a peg by limiting them to a 6.5% win rate in June after back-to-back months with holds of 8.4% and higher. The $40.9 million in operator revenue was 39.4% lower compared to May’s $67.5 million and the second lowest of the year, ahead of only the $35.6 million claimed in February. Handle dipped 17.8% versus May but was still 70.3% higher compared to June 2021.
The state collected $6.1 million in taxes, pushing the total for the year above $51 million. Cook County, which receives 2% in taxes from all revenue on wagers made within county limits — which includes the city of Chicago — collected nearly $450,000 in receipts from more than $22.3 million in revenue.