Business

The Sports Betting Industry Continues To Boom In Illinois

Since launching in 2020, the state of Illinois has been one of the nation’s leaders in the sports betting industry.

Sports betting passed the Illinois state legislature in June 2019, and the state started taking in legalized sports bets in March 2020.

Several of the nation’s top sportsbooks have since launched in Illinois, including BetMGM, DraftKings, Caesars and FanDuel. The BetMGM sportsbook has a presence in Illinois, and they’re currently offering new customers risk-free bets of up to $1,000. The sportsbook allows you to conveniently place a great variety of different sports wagers from your phone.

At BetMGM, customers can place wagers on all sorts of different sports. This includes football, hockey, basketball, baseball, soccer, boxing, NASCAR, golf and much more. Types of wagers that can be placed through BetMGM include straight up winners, moneylines, prop bets and futures.

Sports betting has been a giant moneymaker in the state of Illinois since launching two years ago. In March alone (keep in mind the NFL and MLB seasons weren’t going at this time), the state took in a whopping $971 million in sports betting handles (h/t Chris Altruda of SportsHandle).

According to the Illinois Gaming Board (h/t Pat Evans of Legal Sports Report), the state’s sportsbooks took in $839.4 million for the month of April 2022.

Like several other U.S. states, Illinois state officials have prioritized putting the money towards good causes to help the public. 15 percent of the state’s tax revenue generated from sports betting goes toward the Capital Projects Fund.

The Capital Projects Fund was signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in 2019. The bill emphasizes a focus on improving the state’s universities, transportation system, roads and much more.

The Start Of Sports Betting In Illinois

Back in 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA), which essentially banned sports betting in most parts of the country.

The Supreme Court ruled that the PASPA was a violation of the country’s Tenth Amendment. Soon after the ruling, the states of New Jersey, Delaware and Mississippi quickly moved towards legalizing sports betting.

Fast forward more than four years later, and nearly 30 different U.S. states have legalized a form of mobile/online sports betting.

With the 2022 NFL and NCAAF seasons right around the corner, 2022 could very well mark a record year for the state of Illinois when it comes to the quantity of sports bets placed and revenue.

Illinois Is One Of The Nation’s Top Sports States

“The Prairie State” has at least one professional franchise in each of the “big four” North American professional sports leagues. All of them are based in Chicago, one of the country’s biggest markets.

Illinois has the NFL’s Chicago Bears, the NBA’s Chicago Bulls, the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks and the Chicago White Sox and Cubs of MLB. With five historic and greatly popular franchises, it’s no wonder that sports betting has been such a success in Illinois.

The Bulls, Cubs and Blackhawks have been right near the top in attendance for their respective leagues over the past decade.

Despite their struggles over the better part of the last 30 years, the Bears always remain a hot ticket in Windy City. Such is life when you’re one of the country’s oldest franchises (over a century old now).

Young quarterback Justin Fields and rising star receiver Darnell Mooney give Chicago fans great reason for long-term optimism, too.

Since 1991, Chicago’s “big four” professional sports franchises have combined for 11 championships. Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls enjoyed two three-peats in the ‘90s (1991 to ‘93 and ‘96 to ‘98). The Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 2010, 2013 and 2015. The White Sox and the Cubs won the 2005 and 2016 World Series championships, respectively.

By the time October rolls around, Illinois fans will be able to place wagers on the Bulls, Blackhawks, Bears and possibly the White Sox or Cubs, should either of the MLB teams go on a deep playoff run (though it seems highly unlikely given where they both are in the standings).

That’s before mentioning the state’s many beloved college teams, including the Illinois Fighting Illini basketball and football teams, the Northwestern Huskies basketball clubs and the Loyola Chicago Ramblers’ basketball teams.

news7g

News7g: Update the world's latest breaking news online of the day, breaking news, politics, society today, international mainstream news .Updated news 24/7: Entertainment, Sports...at the World everyday world. Hot news, images, video clips that are updated quickly and reliably

Related Articles

Back to top button