- Illinois sportsbooks took $1.03 billion in August bets, flat from last year, but revenue fell 29% to $76.3 million.
- Parlay hold dropped from 21.3% to 13.9%, cutting parlay revenue by $17.2 million.
- BetMGM and bet365 grew handle 18.5% and 26.7% while DraftKings and FanDuel slipped.
CHICAGO – Illinois bettors wagered nearly the same amount in August as they did a year ago, but sportsbooks kept far less of it. The Illinois Gaming Board’s August report shows sportsbooks took $1.029 billion in bets, just $315,000 less than last August. Adjusted gross revenue fell 29% to $76.3 million, the lowest monthly total since August 2024.
Sportsbooks held 7.4% of bets compared to 10.4% a year ago. As a result, Illinois sports betting produced $25.1 million in taxes, down 24.5%. The per-wager tax held up better, slipping just 4.2% to $5.09 million, as it’s based on the number of bets rather than how bettors fare.
Parlays did most of the damage. Bettors put $321 million into parlays that settled in August, up 10.5% from last year, but sportsbooks kept just 13.9% compared to 21.3% last August. That cut parlay revenue by $17.2 million, more than half of the $31.2 million revenue decline.
Baseball added to it, as sportsbooks kept just 2.6% of $256.1 million in bets, down from 7.1%. Football handle also fell 59.5% to $35.5 million, with college football’s opening week moving from late August to Sept. 3.
BetMGM, bet365 Climb
While legal sportsbooks kept less, two smaller operators grabbed a bigger piece of the market. BetMGM, which operates under the Par-A-Dice license, took $61.6 million in August bets, up 18.5% from last year. The average BetMGM bet climbed from $61 to $83.
bet365, operating through Walker’s Bluff Casino Resort, jumped 26.7% to $56.1 million. Its tax payment rose 12.1% to $1.22 million, even as the state’s total fell by nearly a quarter.
Meanwhile, DraftKings “slipped” 3.3% to $357.3 million and FanDuel “fell” 4.1% to $288.4 million. Together, BetMGM and bet365 now take 11.4% of Illinois handle, up from 9.4% last August.
