Sports wagering was up 9% year-over-year in Illinois during September, but revenue in the very first complete month of football dropped off significantly.

- Illinois sports betting operators generated the very first billion-dollar handle considering that May.

- Revenue fell as gamblers kept sportsbooks' parlay hold to 13%.

- The per-wager tax created 37% of the state's overall haul.

The Illinois Gaming Board recently reported that $1.42 billion was for the month, the first handle to reach a billion dollars in the Prairie State considering that May and the sixth to go over $1.4 billion in the last 12 months.

However, revenue of $100.7 million was down 26.2% from the $137.1 million that online and retail sportsbooks carried in during September 2024. Nearly $99 million of the current earnings came from mobile wagers, which were down 15.2% from the previous year.

The 7.1% hold was the second most affordable of 2025 in Illinois and down substantially from the 10.5% win rate in September 2024. Entering into September, the yearly typical hold was 9.7%, but that was lowered by customer-friendly outcomes early in the NFL season.

Building up

Illinois sports wagering operators paid $28.7 million in taxes to the Prairie State, with $1.1 million going to Chicago-area Cook County.

The Land of Lincoln filled its coffers with $10.6 million from the state's new per-wager tax, which went into result in July and was most likely the cause for the drop in the quantity of online bets placed in September. The current documented month marked the very first that all online operators imposed their own additional charges or betting minimums to offset their expenses on the tax walking.

In September, DraftKings accepted more than 11.2 million bets, which totaled up to $4 million in taxes to the state. FanDuel paid out an even greater $4.5 million on nearly 11 million wagers. No other online sportsbook reached $600,000 in month-to-month wager payouts. DraftKings and FanDuel combined have actually filled the Prairie State's coffers with more than $16 million in per-wager taxes.

Parlay plunge

Parlays played a substantial role in the year-over-year earnings plunge. The 13% hold on September's multi-leg wagers was the best for Illinois bettors considering that March.

FanDuel produced the most income in September, utilizing a 9.4% hold on a $417.9-million deal with to almost reach $40 million in revenues, with more than $25 million coming from parlays.

DraftKings had the highest handle with $507.9 million, however the online operator turned simply a 5.6% hold to make $28.7 million in earnings, thanks mostly to bettors decreasing their parlay hold in half compared to the last 4 months.

Fanatics Sportsbook was the only other online operator to create more than $100 million in wagers throughout September, but it just produced a 6% hold. BetMGM and bet365 were two of the couple of online sportsbooks that accomplished a win rate over 7%.

More taxes?

Now that the Prairie State's per-wager tax is settling in, Chicago is attempting to get in on the action. The city's mayor proposed a 10.25% regional betting tax in his 2026 budget plan, but Illinois legislators are wishing to suppress another hike attempt.