Casinos in Illinois took in $7.2m in revenue in August, up 99.6% from July, as players staked $140.1m, up 166.7%, with Rush Street Entertainment continuing to lead the way.
Online wagers made up the vast majority of handle, at $124.0m, up 155.5% from July. From this handle, bookmakers made $6.0m online, up 80.6%. The remaining $1.2m was made through retail sportsbooks, more than five times the revenue posted for the channel in July.
Rush Street Entertainment and its Kambi-powered sportsbook, the first to launch in the state, continued to dominate the market, accounting for $6.3m of total revenue, up 88.5% month-over-month. This came on amounts wagered totalling $117.9m, up 127.8%.
DraftKings’ sportsbook at Casino Queen in East St Louis followed, bringing in $657,000 in its first month of action on handle of $14.1m, while Penn National’s Argosy Casino Alton saw revenue increase five-fold to $222,000 on $2.7m worth of wagers.
Penn National also took in a further $24,000 through its sportsbook at Hollywood Casino Joliet and $27,000 at Hollywood Casino Aurora.
William Hill, which accepted a takeover offer from Caesars Entertainment this month, took in $42,000 from Elgin Riverboat Resort.
The state brought in $1.2m in tax from these wagers, up 100.8%, making $982,000 from online bets and $$195,000 from those placed in person.
Only Rush Street and DraftKings offered an online option during August, with Rush Street bringing in revenue of $9.1m online and DraftKings $747,000. Online betting in August was disrupted as an executive order allowing players to bet online without registering at a retail venue – as had been required in the state’s betting regulations – was allowed to lapse in late July.
This remote registration order was then reinstated from 21 August.
A total of $69.2m was staked in bets on final match results, classed as “Tier 1 bets” in Illinois, up 130.5%. Bets on all other outcomes such as prop bets or over/unders, classed as “Tier 2 bets” saw stakes of $70.9m, up 215.1%.
The vast majority of bets were placed on professional sports, which saw $139.6m staked. A further $114,000 was staked on college sports and $302,000 on motor racing.