Illinois gamblers can’t seem to find their way to a casino nowadays—but they love themselves some sports betting. The state has reached $300 million in handle faster than any in U.S. history—$305 million and change during September. “Illinois’ launch in July came just as U.S. major sports returned to action and that may have helped hypercharge the market,” speculated analyst Dustin Gouker. He attributes the record to a perfect storm of sports’ resurgence, multiple operators entering the market simultaneously and Gov. J.B. Pritzker‘s extension of online registration through Dec. 12. For context, it took New Jersey six months to hit $300 million and 13 months for Pennsylvania to do the same. “Pennsylvania gives Illinois a nice barometer for how the market is doing, and so far, Illinois is off to a much faster start,” explained analyst Jessica Welman. “The ingredients for Illinois’ rapid expansion have been pretty simple so far: It is a huge market launching under unique circumstances. As long as remote registration continues there will be no single legal market more attractive for operators.” Operators banked $7 million in revenue, by the way.
After an inauspicious debut, DraftKings came on strong with $98 million, closing the gap between it and market leader BetRivers, still tops with $113 million ($98.5 million online). FanDuel, based out of Par-A-Dice, was a respectable third with $78.5 million. “DraftKings and FanDuel will continue to put pressure on BetRivers, which has really taken advantage of its early start in the market,” Welman concluded.
