The Illinois Gaming Board reported nearly $92 million in adjusted gross sports betting revenue for April on Thursday, while handle topped $1 billion for the eighth consecutive month.

Operator winnings were up 2.7% from April 2023, which lagged behind the 22.8% surge in handle to $1.1 billion. Last year’s hold was just shy of 10% compared to this year’s 8.3% win rate. Handle dipped 12.7% compared to March’s $1.26 billion, while revenue was 7.5% lower.

Illinois became the fourth state along with New Jersey, New York, and Nevada to surpass $35 billion in handle in the post-PASPA era. April marked the 13th time the Prairie State reached $1 billion in monthly wagers, trailing only New York (26) and New Jersey (19).

With only Kentucky and Arizona yet to report figures for April, it’s a near-certainty Illinois will pip New Jersey for second nationally for the first time this year.

The state collected $13.8 million in taxes, lifting the year-to-date total to $61.5 million. That’s $8.9 million ahead of last year’s pace, but licensees will be taxed at the current 15% rate only through June. Illinois will switch to a progressive tax starting with its new fiscal year July 1, with tax rates starting at 20% and reaching 40% for any operator that generates more than $200 million in revenue in a fiscal year.

In using 2024 revenue generated by mobile operators to show how the progressive tax rates will work, the most eye-catching part of the above chart is FanDuel and DraftKings accounting for more than 90% of the nearly $49 million in additional tax revenue for the state.

Both quickly made their way into the 35% bracket on the strength of parlay revenue. FanDuel’s $133.1 million in winnings from the multi-leg bets alone would elevate its respective license-holders to the 35% tier, while the $80.6 million DraftKings has reaped would move it to the 30% bracket.

Based on Illinois bettors’ love of parlays — the $307.4 million worth of such bets in April represented 27.8% of the handle but 68.2% of the revenue — and how well both FanDuel and DraftKings fare in that specific marketplace, it stands to reason they will reach the $200 million in revenue to trigger the maximum 40% tax rate fairly quickly.

It could also be faster than the current pace given action begins to pick up in August with the NFL preseason and Week 0 of the college football season.

A second observation is BetRivers benefitting to a smaller degree from the amendment that separates revenue from sports betting apps and brick-and-mortar venues into their own silos for tax purposes. The $3.5 million that Rivers Casino — which is the licensee of BetRivers — has generated in Des Plaines would have moved it within $1 million of the 25% tax rate triggered at $30 million.

Based on the four-month revenue totals, Rivers almost certainly would reach at least the 30% tier had both sources of revenue been taxed as one entity as the top brick-and-mortar sportsbook in the state.

Hollywood Casino in Aurora — license-holder of ESPN BET — would also likely have entered the 30% tier by the end of a fiscal year, while Par-A-Dice Casino, tethered to BetMGM, could also have progressed to that tax bracket in a 12-month period.

Though the current pace projects an increase of $147 million in tax revenue — short of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s original $200 million ask in February when he proposed to raise the tax rate from 15% to 35% —  FanDuel and DraftKings will likely generate enough revenue at the two highest tiers to get the overall number closer, if not beyond, the governor’s want. Total year-to-date handle is up 20.6% compared to 2023, and revenue is up 16.8% at $410.1 million.

Illinois narrowly eclipsed $1 billion in adjusted revenue in 2023, and its top two operators are currently outperforming last year’s numbers. DraftKings’ revenue is up 43.2% compared to the first four months of last year, while FanDuel’s winnings have increased 11.1%.

1 New York ~$1.97B
2 ILLINOIS $1.1B
3 New Jersey $1.04B
4 N. Carolina $648.9M
5 Penn. $646.1M
6 Mass. $603.3M
7 Maryland $486.3M
8 Indiana $393.9M
9 Tennessee $380.9M
10 Iowa $209.5M#SportsBettingX #GamblingX

— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) June 11, 2024

FanDuel paced the state’s eight sports betting apps in April revenue with $43.8 million, crafting an 11.3% hold from $386.9 million in completed events handle. Nearly 80% of that total — $34.2 million — was derived from parlays and same-game parlays, as the online titan had an eye-watering hold of 25.4% on $134.8 million worth of such wagers.

DraftKings was tops in handle with $400.3 million and narrowly missed the 7% industry-standard hold in collecting $27.9 million in winnings. Parlays represented close to two-thirds of that total at $17.7 million, as it fashioned an 18.1% win rate on those bets.

BetRivers took the final podium spots in both revenue and handle, attaining a 7.6% hold in winning $5.4 million from $71.5 million.

ESPN BET, BetMGM, and Fanatics Sportsbook were separated by $139,100 in revenue for the fourth through sixth slots, with ESPN BET on the high end at $3.7 million with a 7% win rate and Fanatics lowest on the totem at $3.6 despite an 8.4% hold. BetMGM had close to $3.7 million, finishing with a 6.7% win rate and edging out ESPN BET for fourth in handle with $55.1 million to the PENN Entertainment-owned book’s $53.1 million.

Caesars posted $2.2 million with a 4.6% hold on $47.8 million worth of wagers, and Circa Sports came out just $22,842 ahead on $17.2 million in handle, good for a 0.1% hold.

The 20.3% overall hold on parlays generated $62.2 million in revenue for Illinois sportsbooks in April, but they took a beating on boxing and MMA action, paying out close to $4.9 million above the $12.2 million worth of accepted bets.

Ryan Garcia’s upset of Devin Haney in a super lightweight boxing bout on April 20 contributed to seven-figure losses for both FanDuel and DraftKings in the sport-specific category. FanDuel took a hit of $2.6 million, while DraftKings was saddled with a loss of almost $1.9 million.

Basketball was the second-largest source of income at $13.7 million, but that figure was dragged down by Argosy Casino Alton absorbing a loss of $768,800. The hold on hoops wagers came in at 4.3% against $319 million in handle.

The first full month of baseball generated $6.5 million in winnings but only a 3.2% hold from $204.5 million worth of bets placed. Tennis rounded out the top four sports for revenue when including parlays, as the house collected $5.2 million on the strength of a 6.9% win rate against $80.3 million in handle.

No other sport reached $2 million in revenue, though hockey came within $24,300 of that benchmark and soccer fell $61,600 shy.

When not wagering on parlays, Illinois bettors proved fairly shrewd in single-event wagering, holding operators to a 3.6% hold on close to $800 million worth of bets placed.