In February there was a decrease in wagering at Illinois sportsbooks. This is the first decline since September.
After the Super Bowl, sports betting declined to its lowest level in six months.
For February, Illinois’ retail and online sportsbooks accepted $679.4m in bets, despite a much-needed $60.5m boost from this year’s Big Game.
While handle was up 33% year-on-year, it was down by nearly 22% from January’s record-setting $867.5m sum.
Likewise, betting volume reached $23.4m per day, helped by February’s relatively short, 28-day duration. But even this was considerably lower than January’s $28m-per-day figure.
Ultimately, if Illinois can take any consolation, it’s that most other states experience a similar slump in February. Between the March Madness NFL playoffs and January’s NFL playoffs, February is often considered a weak month for betting on sports.
“The Super Bowl can’t completely replace the volume of wagers from a full month of NFL football,” said Joe Boozell, Lead Analyst for PlayIllinois.com.
“Importantly, though, sportsbooks continued to show strong year-over-year growth, and that momentum almost certainly accelerated in March, which brought lighter registration requirements and the NCAA Tournament.”
Sportsbooks won $35.6m from February’s betting action, up nearly 15% from February 2021, though again, down from January’s $59.3m by 40%. Online betting accounted for $652.3m of February’s total wagering activity.
DraftKings won again, taking $212.5m for both online and retail wagers. FanDuel accepted $212.2m, and DraftKings took $212.2m.
Boozell added: “February was the end of the sports betting market’s first chapter.
“The biggest question ahead is whether Illinois can catch New Jersey and Nevada and establish itself as the clear second-largest sports betting market in the US.”
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