The Illinois Gaming Board reported traditional sports wagering handle of $1.03 billion for December on Thursday, marking the third consecutive month it cleared the billion-dollar benchmark.
For the second straight month, the state flirted with breaking the record it set in October. The range in Illinois handle over the last three months has been less than $1.1 million, with December’s figure 1% lower than November’s total. That figure was within $41,000 of October’s total, as Illinois joined New Jersey, Nevada, and New York as the only states to have three consecutive months with $1 billion handles.
Operators combined to claim $82.4 million in adjusted revenue, a sharp fall-off of 15% from November as the 8% win rate was 1.4 percentage points lower. It was, however, more than double the $33.7 million in winnings from December 2021, when the house was limited to a 4.3% hold.
The state received $11.5 million in tax receipts for the month, lifting the 2022 calendar year total to $118.4 million. That was $39.7 million more than 2021 as revenue surged 51.7%, aided by a 38.9% spike in handle to $9.8 billion. Illinois finished a comfortable third nationally for handle, more than $1 billion better than Nevada and trailing only New York ($16.3 billion) and New Jersey ($10.9 billion).