The Illinois Gaming Board ongoing an lively summer months on the sports wagering entrance Thursday, approving Tough Rock for equally cell and retail licenses and asserting Betway as the lone profitable bidder for a single of the state’s 3 on the web-only wagering licenses.
At its assembly past thirty day period, the state agency OK’d a retail wagering license for Whole Household Resorts, which runs The Non permanent in Waukegan. Circa Athletics is dealing with both equally retail and mobile betting for Whole Home, and it is projecting to start in the back again 50 percent of September, early in the NFL regular season, per a Tweet from Circa Director of Functions Jeffrey Benson.
Really hard Rock, which a short while ago unveiled a total makeover of its cellular app now named Challenging Rock Guess, will require to make a ask for to the IGB to commence wagering immediately after being accepted for its Management Services Service provider license essential for athletics wagering. The IGB retroactively set Tough Rock On line casino Rockford‘s 4-year Learn Athletics Wagering license to January to align with the approval date of the casino license essential to utilize for a retail license.
Betway was a single of two applicants for the state’s on-line-only licenses that come with a $20 million selling price tag. This was a supplemental application approach, with Betway obtaining withdrawn its application for the duration of the first assessment procedure past yr. A supplemental bidding period of time took spot just after the lone past bidder to move ahead, Tekkorp, withdrew final October.
The IGB noted Betway “meets the minimum amount skills for licensure” and ought to continue to go by way of the board’s comprehensive vetting method prior to being granted a Learn Athletics Wagering license for an on the web-only operator. There have been originally two applications submitted to the IGB in the interval authorized from Nov. 1 to March 1, but the other applicant designed a request July 10 to withdraw its proposal.
IGB Administrator Marcus Fruchter did not disclose the identity of the other applicant, but he famous he granted permission to withdraw the application Monday, main to Thursday’s expose of Betway as the lone bidder to move ahead in the method.
Massive athletics betting marketplace about to get more substantial
Working all-time, submit-PASPA Prime 10 #SportsBetting handles (June in CAPS)
1 NEW JERSEY $38.9B
2 Nevada $33B
3 NEW YORK $25.8B
4 Illinois $23.4B
5 PENNSYLVANIA $22.4B
6 INDIANA $12.6B
7 Colorado $12.5B
8 MICHIGAN $11.1B <-NEW
9 Virginia $10.4B
10 Arizona $10.2B#GamblingTwitter— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) July 25, 2023
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Illinois is one of five states to have generated sports betting handle above $1 billion in any month in the post-PASPA era, and among those states it has the fewest number of online books other than Nevada. Illinois has been No. 2 nationally in handle from February through May, but it has not had a new mobile entrant since BetMGM launched in March 2022.
The state’s marketplace leaders are FanDuel and DraftKings, with BetRivers having status at No. 3. BetMGM, a resurgent Caesars Sportsbook, and PointsBet — which is being acquired by Fanatics — are all vying for the No. 4 spot and have pushed down Barstool Sportsbook in recent months.
The impending arrival of Circa and likely launch of Hard Rock Bet ahead of the NFL season would give Illinois bettors nine mobile options come September — a number level with New York, the No. 1 market in the U.S.
Illinois may not have the population volume to knock the Empire State off the monthly handle throne, but additional operators come football season could result in greater than incremental steps in setting record monthly handle. Illinois crossed $1 billion handle for the first time last October at $1.03 billion. After narrowly missing topping that amount in November and December, it ticked higher to $1.07 billion in January and $1.072 billion in March.
