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Illinois sports betting stayed above the $1 billion line in February, but operator revenue still fell from a year earlier. The latest Illinois Gaming Board figures showed another strong month for betting volume, though a softer hold and fewer wagers pulled profits lower.
Good to Know
Illinois sportsbooks stretched the run of $100 million adjusted revenue months to five in a row in February. Even so, the market lost ground against the same month in 2025.
According to the Illinois Gaming Board, the state 10 online sportsbooks and 13 retail operators combined for $109.2 million in adjusted revenue from a $1.17 billion handle. Handle still rose 1.5% year over year, but adjusted revenue dropped by nearly 15%.
February betting volume also came in well below January, when Illinois books handled $1.4 billion. Football largely left the calendar after the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots met in Super Bowl LX, leaving only one NFL game during the month. Olympic betting helped keep wagering high enough for Illinois to clear $1 billion for a sixth straight month.
A weaker hold did real damage. Illinois books kept 9.3% of wagers, down almost two percentage points from February 2025. Hold also stayed below 10% for the fifth time in the last six months, which helps explain why revenue fell even with solid handle.
Illinois also kept drawing large tax payments from the market. The state progressive tax structure produced more than $38 million in February. On top of that, the per wager tax added another $8.8 million through the 25 cent and 50 cent surcharge applied to operators.
DraftKings and FanDuel carried most of that burden. Each operator paid more than $3.5 million in per wager taxes. Even so, that figure came in far below the prior month, when the two companies paid a combined $11.6 million. No other online sportsbook reached $400,000 in monthly per wager tax.
Another trend kept heading in the wrong direction for Illinois operators. Online sportsbooks processed 25% fewer wagers than in February 2025, continuing the decline seen since the per wager tax started last year. Missouri sports betting going live could also be pulling some betting activity away from Illinois, especially near the border.
DraftKings stayed on top by handle with $417.9 million in online wagers and $40 million in adjusted revenue. FanDuel followed with a $314.3 million handle and $37.1 million in revenue. Both books saw handle fall by about $100 million from January, yet together they still generated $77 million of the roughly $108 million in total online revenue.
FanDuel turned in the stronger hold at 11.8%, ahead of the 9.6% posted by DraftKings. That gap helped FanDuel stay close in revenue despite taking in far less handle.
Fanatics Sportsbook ranked as the only other operator above the $100 million mark in wagers. It handled $108.1 million and produced $7.8 million in revenue, good for a 7.2% win rate. February also brought a retail partner change for Fanatics, which shifted from Hawthorne Race Course to Alton Casino.
Behind that top tier, BetMGM took $67 million in wagers and won $5.2 million, a 7.8% hold. bet365 reached $63.4 million in handle and also posted $5.2 million in revenue, keeping 8.2%. That result pushed bet365 ahead of BetRivers in handle for fifth place. BetRivers, however, generated the better revenue total of the two on a smaller $58.7 million handle, finishing with $5.4 million.