Will a month of record-setting mobile sports betting handle prompt Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker to reconsider his stance on the state’s in-person registration requirement?
Illinois’ mobile sports betting apps generated $609 million in betting handle in March. The Land of Lincoln came in as the nation’s No. 2 online sports betting market in March (in terms of handle), and narrowly missed overtaking Nevada as the No. 2 overall sports betting state in the US.
Online and retail sportsbooks in Illinois generated $633,614,957 in betting handle in March. Nevada, by comparison, took $640,781,759 in bets (mobile and retail combined) for March.
Of that $633.6 million handle total for Illinois, 96% of all bets came from online sportsbooks. Illinois law requires players to register in-person for mobile sports betting accounts, requiring a trip to the land-based casino that licenses a given sportsbook.
COVID-19 considerations prompted Gov. Pritzker to waive that in-person requirement, lifting that mandate for the entire history of Illinois’ online sports betting industry. Since mobile sports betting launched in June 2020, Pritzker has issued multiple orders to extend the waiver of the in-person registration requirement.
That era came to an end on April 4, however, as Gov. Pritzker declined to renew the waiver. That means Illinois bettors will have to make a trip to a land-based casino to sign up for a new online sports betting account, or several trips around the state to sign up at multiple mobile sportsbooks.
ILLINOIS MOBILE SPORTS BETTING HANDLE MARCH 2021
| Overall Betting Handle | Mobile Betting Handle | % Handle From Mobile | MTM Handle Change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Illinois | $633,614,957 | $609,045,176 | 96.1% | +24.3% |
| 2021 Totals | $1,724,962,848 | $1,674,481,101 | 97.1% |
ILLINOIS MOBILE SPORTS BETTING REVENUE MARCH 2021
| Retail Operator | Online Skins | March 2021 Revenue | Month-to-Month Change | 2021 YTD Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairmount Park/Par-A-Dice Gaming Corporation | FanDuel Sportsbook | $12,792,859 | +9.5% | $41,214,555 |
| Casino Queen Inc. | DraftKings Sportsbook | $12,358,902 | +19.7% | $38,232,248 |
| Midwest Gaming & Entertainment | BetRivers | $7,469,869 | +12.8% | $24,233,544 |
| Hollywood Casino Aurora | Barstool Sportsbook | $5,141,038 | N/A | $5,141,038 |
| Hawthorne Race Course Inc. | PointsBet | $4,375,947 | +11.4% | $12,474,525 |
| Elgin Riverboat Resort | William Hill | $0 | -100.0% | $1,214,407 |
| Totals | $42,138,615 | +26.6% | $122,510,317 |
A new big player entered the Illinois mobile sports betting market in March. Barstool Sportsbook launched on March 11, and the first three weeks of operations point to a bright future for the brand in Illinois. Under the Hollywood Casino Aurora license, Barstool cleared the $5 million revenue mark for March.
FanDuel Sportsbook and DraftKings Sportsbook continue to battle for Illinois No. 1 market share spot.
FanDuel enjoyed a slight edge on DraftKings in terms of March revenue. The two sports betting giants combined account for nearly two-thirds of 2021 mobile wagering revenue in Illinois.
BetRivers and PointsBet persist as viable online sports betting platforms in Illinois as well. The return of the in-person registration requirement, however, will almost certainly lead to a dip in the monthly revenue numbers.
The interactive monthly revenue reports from the Illinois Gaming Board can be viewed here.
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