The Illinois Gaming Board reported $120.9 million in adjusted gross sports betting revenue for May on Wednesday as sportsbooks walloped the public on parlay bets.
Revenue was up 19.9% compared to last year, lagging behind the 25.3% jump in handle to $1.27 billion. Illinois also joined New York and New Jersey as the only states in the post-PASPA era to surpass $50 billion in handle. Operators statewide combined for a 9.5% hold, which was nearly one-half of a percentage point lower than May 2024.
The state’s coffers saw an inflow of $43.8 million for May as reporting for the first fiscal year with progressive tax rates ranging from 20% to 40% based on revenue thresholds has one month remaining. The $387.3 million in overall receipts collected is $234.6 million ahead of last year’s pace and well above the estimate of $200 million in additional revenue Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker sought for Fiscal Year 2025 when he originally proposed raising the tax rate from 15% to 35%. The switch to the tiered rates did not take place until late in budget negotiations in May 2024.
Ask and ye shall (begrudgingly) receive
Based on how well the progressive tax has worked in Illinois — tax receipts in Fiscal Year 2025 are up 153.5% versus the 18.7% increase in operator revenue — it is understandable mobile sportsbooks are grousing about the 25- or 50-cent per wager surcharge that took effect July 1 with the start of FY 2026.
| Mobile Operator | FY 2024 July-May AGR | FY 2025 July-May AGR | FY 2024 July-May Taxes | FY 2025 July-May Taxes | Tax Revenue Difference |
| FanDuel | $411,513,800 | $468,137,729 | $61,727,071 | $168,255,092 | $106,528,021 |
| DraftKings | $340,386,927 | $398,528,526 | $51,058,039 | $140,411,411 | $89,353,372 |
| Fanatics | $48,301,186 | $97,109,880 | $7,245,178 | $25,136,024 | $17,890,846 |
| BetMGM | $40,137,568 | $53,661,236 | $6,020,635 | $12,098,371 | $6,077,736 |
| BetRivers | $72,424,684 | $64,120,795 | $10,863,703 | $15,236239 | $4,372,536 |
| Caesars | $31,489,003 | $36,658,932 | $4,723,350 | $7,664,733 | $2,941,383 |
| ESPN BET | $44,086,375 | $39,915,592 | $6,612,956 | $8,478,898 | $1,865,942 |
| Circa Sports | $1,691,394 | $587,457 | $253,709 | $117,491 | ($136,218) |
| Hard Rock Bet | $0 | $14,040,161 | $0 | $2,808,032 | $2,808,032 |
| bet365 | $0 | $11,272,381 | $0 | $2,254,476 | $2,254,476 |
| TOTALS | $990,030,938 | $1,184,032,691 | $148,504,641 | $382,460,766 | $233,956,125 |
Of the eight mobile operators who were in operation for FY 2024, only Circa Sports has paid less in year-over-year taxes entering the final month of FY 2025. Some operators have paid more in taxes despite a downturn in revenue due to the floor tax rate being raised from 15% to 20%.
FanDuel and DraftKings have long been at the maximum 40% tier after crossing the $200 million revenue barrier, and they have paid a combined $195.9 million in additional taxes compared to the first 11 months of FY 2024. Fanatics projects to be the only other sportsbook to reach the 35% tier as it entered June $2.9 million shy of the $100 million threshold to exit the 30% bracket.
Five of the 10 operators currently have or plan to put countermeasures in place for the per wager surcharge. BetMGM and Hard Rock Bet have enacted minimum wager amounts of $2.50 and $2, respectively, while FanDuel and DraftKings have plans to place a 50-cent surcharge on wagers beginning Sept. 1. Fanatics said it will place a 25-cent surcharge on wagers but was vague on a potential start date, only saying it would be “in the fall.”
| Operator | FY 2025 First 20 Million Wagers | Tax Revenue at $0.25 | FY 2025 # of Wagers Above 20 Million | Tax Revenue at $0.50 | Projected Tax Revenue |
| FanDuel | 20,000,000 | $5,000,000 | 134,879,277 | $67,439,639 | $72,439,639 |
| DraftKings | 20,000,000 | $5,000,000 | 118,034,744 | $59,017,387 | $64,017,387 |
| BetMGM | 15,512,779 | $3,878,195 | 0 | $0 | $3,878,195 |
| Fanatics | 15,050,997 | $3,762,749 | 0 | $0 | $3,762,749 |
| BetRivers | 11,690,534 | $2,922,634 | 0 | $0 | $2,922,634 |
| ESPN BET | 9,569,414 | $2,392,354 | 0 | $0 | $2,392,354 |
| Caesars | 7,048,384 | $1,762,096 | 0 | $0 | $1,762,096 |
| Hard Rock Bet | 5,271,126 | $1,317,782 | 0 | $0 | $1,317,782 |
| bet365 | 3,933,078 | $983,270 | 0 | $0 | $983,270 |
| Circa Sports | 380,256 | $95,064 | 0 | $0 | $95,064 |
| TOTALS | 108,456,568 | $27,114,142 | 252,914,021 | $126,457,010 | $153,571,170 |
If the wager surcharge tax was applied for this fiscal year, FanDuel and DraftKings would account for an overwhelming amount of the revenue generated. FanDuel surpassed 150 million wagers for the fiscal year after accepting more than 11.9 million in May. To offer a first point of comparison, BetRivers has accepted 11.7 million bets for all of FY 2025.
To offer a second: Both FanDuel (100.1 million) and DraftKings (83.3 million) have accepted more parlay wagers in FY 2025 than the other eight operators have accepted combined (68.5 million) for all types of wagers.
FanDuel would have paid $72.4 million in levies from the surcharge, spiking its effective tax rate to 51.4% from 35.9% based solely on revenue. DraftKings would get socked an additional $64 million in taxes from the surcharge, raising its effective tax rate from 35.2% to 51.3%.
In a final point of comparison, New York has the highest tax rate on mobile sports betting revenue at 51%. Both FanDuel and DraftKings have been in the Empire State since digital wagering launched in January 2022 and paid a combined $865.8 million in taxes there for FY 2025, which ran from April through March.
The two digital leviathans also would have been the only operators paying the 50-cent surcharge in FY 2025 given both BetMGM and Fanatics cleared 15 million accepted wagers through the first 11 months. As a result, FanDuel and DraftKings would have represented 88.9% of the $153.6 million in tax revenue for the per wager surcharge.
The parlay train steams on in Land of Lincoln
Though Illinois is one of seven states out of 31 to report a single-digit percentage hold (Arizona has yet to report) for May, operators more than compensated with a hammering of the public on parlays. Operators collected $85.9 million in winnings on the strength of a 23.3% hold against $369.1 million handle and notched a 20%-plus hold for the third time in 2025.
In stark contrast, bettors limited the house to a 3.9% win rate on single-event wagers as sportsbooks took only $34.9 million of the $904.5 million in such bets placed.
FanDuel led the pack with a blistering 27.3% win rate on parlays, reaping $38.4 million of its $49.7 million in total winnings from the multi-leg bets. It was FanDuel’s highest monthly hold on parlays since reaching just shy of 28% in November 2022, and it surpassed $1.2 billion in all-time parlay winnings in Illinois.
DraftKings, an easy No. 2 in revenue at $38.1 million, also enjoyed a solid May through parlays. It collected close to $25 million with a 22.5% hold. While it cleared $100 million in 2025 winnings from parlays, its 16.9% win rate through the first five months is notably dragged down by an 8.3% hold reported in March.
Every mobile operator but Circa generated at least $1.7 million in revenue via parlays. Fanatics took the final podium spot with $7.2 million while posting a 19.4% hold. Its parlay success provided a buffer against $4.4 million in losses spanning basketball ($2.5 million), golf ($1.4 million), and hockey ($432,700) wagers. Overall, Fanatics finished just shy of $6 million in winnings with a 3.8% hold on $157.2 million handle.
BetMGM grabbed third for total revenue, pipping Fanatics by $12,624. It had a 9.6% win rate from $62.5 million worth of wagers. BetRivers rounded out the top five for operator winnings at $5.7 million, crafting an 8.9% hold from $64.4 million in bets placed.
Bet365 posted $4.2 million in revenue for its second full month of operations in Illinois. The 8.4% hold on $50.8 million handle was nearly one-half of a percentage point higher than March as month-over-month winnings dipped only 3.8% compared to 9.3% for handle.
