Illinois set another record in its legal and regulated sports betting journey. The state released the latest numbers, showing that sports bettors legally wagered $278.4 million during this year’s March Madness NCAA men’s basketball championship. Bettors wagered another $7.8 million on women’s basketball.
If anyone still had any doubt that online sports betting is here to stay, the numbers prove it all. A whopping 96% of all bets on March Madness were placed online.
The numbers wagered on March Madness 2022 were up from around $200 million last year.
Sportsbooks made less on the basketball championship than they did on the Super Bowl, keeping only about 5% of the wagers in winnings. Numbers are usually closer to 10%.
The increase in the total amount wagered was mainly due to Illinois’ gaming authority changing the sports wagering act, essentially eliminating the in-person registration requirement. Up until recently, players needed to sign up for sports betting at a bricks-and-mortar sportsbook before they could start betting online.
As a result of this change, sportsbooks started intense marketing campaigns to get players to sign up to their sites, especially before the major sporting events.
FanDuel, DraftKings and BetMGM all have a presence in the Illinois industry, in partnership with brick-and-mortar casinos.
Nine retail bookies operate in Illinois, and all but two offer online sports betting.
