The Illinois Gaming Board reported $54.7 million in adjusted gross sports wagering revenue for June, continuing a strong 2023 for sportsbook operators in the Land of Lincoln.
The operators’ winnings were up 33.8% from June 2022, which was also the last time the hold was below 7% in the state. The win rate this June was 8.2%, the second-lowest of the year behind February’s 7.8% and 2.6 percentage points less than the all-time high of 10.8% set in May.
The $494.8 million in revenue for the first half of the year is 45% higher compared to the opening six months of 2022, with the hold of 9.2% almost two full percentage points higher. That has led to an additional $23 million in state tax revenue in 2023 versus last year, with the coffers getting an inflow of $8.2 million in June and lifting the total to $74.2 million.
Handle was also up year-over-year in June, ticking 5.9% higher to $665.8 million. Illinois extended its streak as the No. 2 state nationally for handle to five months, a run that started in February.
While it still is a long way from challenging New York for the No. 1 spot, Illinois will be expanding beyond its current seven mobile operators in the coming months as Circa Sportsbook and Hard Rock Bet are expected to launch mobile operations in the fall.
A dubious parlay revenue milestone reached
Though June marked the first time in three months the hold on parlay wagers failed to clear 20%, the $31.7 million in operator revenue from those bets sent the all-time total from parlay wagering in Illinois over $1 billion. The overall hold on those wagers since launch is a robust 18.4% from $5.6 billion wagered, and the house is doing even better thus far in 2023 with a 19.7% win rate to claim $290.4 million from almost $1.5 billion in parlay bets.
Here’s a look at each Illinois mobile sportsbook’s parlay wagering statistics:
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Unsurprisingly, FanDuel has been the pacesetter when it comes to mobile parlay wagering, highlighted by its first mover status in the same game parlay space. Its gaudy 22.9% hold is more than six percentage points clear of its closest rival in Illinois and over eight percentage points higher than top rival DraftKings.
FanDuel has had a hold of 20.3% or better each of the last 12 months, peaking at 29.6% in October. More than half its all-time online parlay revenue — $285.5 million — has come in that span.
BetMGM‘s parlay hold of under 8.9% skews low in part due to its parlay insurance promotional offers upon launching operations in March.
Though PointsBet has the fourth-highest hold among mobile books at 15.8%, it could have been higher had Marco Piemonte not dinged the operator for close to $3 million on a six-leg parlay last September. Piemonte, who is connected to the operator Betr, also had a parlay win of $2.8 million wagering with DraftKings in December.
FanDuel’s run of double-digit holds ends
June #SportsBetting numbers 🧵for #Illinois via IGB. Parlay sub-🧵(4/x), YTD comp hand/rev/WR by mobile operator (1/3)@BetRivers $112.61M/$19.4M/17.23%@DKSportsbook $447.69M/$74.99M/16.75%@FDSportsbook $619.73M/$150.38M/24.27%
12/x #GamblingTwitter #GamblingX
— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) August 11, 2023
One of the reasons for Illinois having a relatively pedestrian hold compared to May was FanDuel failing to notch a 10% win rate for the first time in 2023. It came close, at just under 9.7%, and still led mobile operators in revenue with $21.5 million from $221.5 million in completed events handle.
The betting public fared well against the online titan in single-event wagering in June, limiting FanDuel to a 3.7% hold for that wager type and eking out five-figure wins in hockey and motorsports betting. The mobile marketplace leader claimed nearly three-quarters of its revenue via parlay wagering, winning $15.8 million from $66.7 million handle for a state-leading 23.7% hold.
BetRivers was the only other operator to notch an overall hold of at least 9%, landing at 9.3% after claiming $5.1 million in revenue from $54.7 million wagered. Its year-to-date revenue of $42.3 million is down only 0.7% compared to 2022 despite an 18.8% drop in handle, a by-product of an expanded parlay market.
BetRivers’ parlay handle of $112.6 million in 2023 so far is 67.7% higher than the $67.2 million in accepted parlay wagers for all of 2022, and its $19.4 million in revenue from those wagers is close to double the $10.1 million in winnings last year.
DraftKings was a comfortable second in revenue and handle, crafting a 7.3% win rate to claim $16.9 million in winnings from $229.6 million handle. Caesars Sportsbook won the monthly brawl for the No. 4 spot in handle for June at $45.9 million, but its state-low hold of 5.7% allowed BetMGM to take the No. 4 slot for revenue by just over $30,000 with $2.7 million.
PointsBet’s 5.9% win rate was its lowest since a 4.2% hold last December, but Barstool Sportsbook topped 8% for the first time since last October. PointsBet claimed $2.4 million in revenue from $41 million handle, while Barstool finished with $1.9 million on $22.5 million worth of accepted wagers.
