The Illinois Gaming Board reported $100.9 million in adjusted gross sports betting revenue for May late Monday as FanDuel‘s continued hammering of the public for parlays and same game parlays proved instrumental in another big month for operators.

The Land of Lincoln also narrowly extended its streak of $1 billion handles to nine months after sportsbooks accepted $1.02 billion worth of wagers. The $5.74 billion in handle for the first five months of the year is 21.2% higher compared to 2023 as Illinois edged over $36 billion in handle since launching right before the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.

Revenue was up 13.3% compared to last year as the 9.9% hold was more than nine-tenths of a percentage point lower. Operator winnings, however, were up 9.7% compared to April with the win rate 1.6 percentage points higher.

The state collected $15.1 million in taxes based on its 15% rate, which was in effect until July 1. The $76.7 million accrued in the calendar year is approximately $10.6 million ahead of last year’s pace, but things will look drastically different starting with July’s report.

The new fiscal year began July 1 with the overhaul of Illinois’ sports betting tax rates taking effect. The new rates start at 20% and progress as high as 40% if operators surpass $200 million in AGR over the course of the fiscal year.

Cook County, which includes Chicago, claimed nearly $1.1 million in tax receipts from its 2% levy on the $54.3 million in AGR generated within its borders. The City of Chicago collected $2,168 from its 2% levy on the $108,400 won by DraftKings‘ retail sportsbook adjacent to Wrigley Field.

1 New York $1.98B
2 ILLINOIS $1.02B
3 New Jersey $838.9M
4 Ohio $612.7M
5 Penn. $591.9M
6 Mass. $587.3M
7 North Carolina $525.5M
8 Nevada $514.4M
9 Virginia $505.6M
10 Colorado $447.6M#SportsBettingX #GamblingX

— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) July 8, 2024

Parlays and same game parlays have long been a key to Illinois being a top-three market nationally, and May was no different as operators combined to craft a 21% hold statewide and reaped close to $57 million in winnings from $271.7 million in completed events handle.

It was the second straight month the win rate on parlays was above 20% and third time in five months this year. Illinois sportsbooks have won $53.8 million or more for six consecutive months.

FanDuel, well entrenched as the industry leader when it comes to parlays and SGPs, posted a 26.1% hold in May as it collected $30.1 million in revenue from the multi-leg wagers. May has been historically good to FanDuel when it comes to parlay action — the digital juggernaut has won $88.6 million the last four years in the month with a robust 26.8% hold from $330.3 million in handle.

FanDuel’s parlay winnings accounted for more than 70% of its $42.9 million in total winnings for the month as it attained a 12.6% win rate against $339.7 million in accepted wagers. It has surpassed $200 million in year-to-date winnings and $1.2 billion all-time.

DraftKings led the eight mobile operators with $380 million in traditional handle and finished with a 7.9% hold to claim $29.8 million in revenue. DraftKings had a solid 16.2% hold on parlays, reaping just over $14 million.

All seven mobile operators who offer parlays to Illinois bettors — Circa Sports does not — reached seven figures in revenue. Fanatics Sportsbook (22.4%) and ESPN BET (20.1%) joined FanDuel in sporting 20%-plus win rates, while BetMGM was on the low end at 10.5%.

BetRivers finished third of the group of seven in parlay revenue at $3.1 million, landing a 19.7% hold from $15.7 million in handle. The overall mobile hold on parlays was 21.1% as the seven sports betting apps combined to win $55.2 million from $262.1 million in bets placed.

Their retail counterparts managed a 17.9% win rate to claim $1.7 million from $9.7 million worth of bets placed.

There is still one month of reporting left for Fiscal Year 2024 in Illinois, but in applying the new progressive tax rates to the current 11 months, it projects to land relatively close to Gov. JB Pritzker’s initial ask of a 35% flat rate to raise $200 million prior to the progressive plan that emerged late during May’s legislative session.

As the table shows, FanDuel and DraftKings are the only mobile operators to reach the maximum 40% rate by crossing $200 million in AGR. FanDuel, in fact, would have more than half its $411.5 million in revenue taxed at 40%. That would result in paying $83.9 million more than the current $61.7 million it has remitted.

DraftKings would also see its tax payments more than double, increasing from $51.1 million to $117.2 million. The two eternal rivals account for close to 90% of the additional $167.4 million generated by the new progressive rates, with the $315.9 million in taxes an increase of 112.7% from the existing $148.5 million.

BetRivers was the only other mobile operator to reach the 30% bracket, with its projected taxes increasing by nearly $6.9 million to $17.7 million. The combined revenue of Fanatics Sportsbook and predecessor PointsBet — licensed to Hawthorne Race Course — came within $1.7 million of the 30% bracket and was subject to the 25% rate along with ESPN BET and predecessor Barstool Sportsbook; BetMGM; and Caesars.

Circa Sports, which entered Illinois last fall, would be the only mobile book remaining in the lowest 20% bracket and would see an increase of nearly $85,000 in tax payments.

Illinois is on pace to surpass $1 billion in AGR for the second consecutive year, with the $511 million up 16.1% compared to the first six months of 2023. That is slightly lagging behind handle growth since the 8.9% collective hold is nearly four-tenths of a percentage point lower.