The Kansas Jayhawks, who staged the largest comeback in NCAA males’s basketball historical past to win the nationwide championship over North Carolina final week, weren’t the one March Madness record-setters.
In Illinois, sports activities bettors legally wagered a document $278.4 million in the course of the males’s event this yr, in accordance with income totals launched Tuesday by the Illinois Gaming Board. The ladies’s basketball event added one other $7.8 million in wagers.
Nearly 96% of the bets had been positioned on-line, boosted by a change in Illinois regulation that allowed on-line sportsbooks to compete throughout the state for brand spanking new clients.
The $286 million in complete March Madness bets netted Illinois sportsbooks $14.3 million in adjusted gross receipts — the cash saved after winnings are paid out — with the state receiving about $2.1 million in tax income, in accordance with the gaming board.
By comparability, Super Bowl LVI on Feb. 13 generated about $61 million in bets and $9.5 million in adjusted gross receipts at Illinois sportsbooks, in accordance with the gaming board.
Joe Boozell, lead analyst for gaming business web site PlayIllinois.com, mentioned the $286 million wagered for March Madness in Illinois is up from about $200 million final yr, and an indication that the state is changing into a hotbed for sports activities betting. The gaming numbers additionally confirmed that Illinois bettors did higher on March Madness than the Super Bowl, with the sportsbooks protecting solely about 5% of the wagers in winnings.
“Normally in Illinois, we see that number closer to 10%,” Boozell mentioned. “It means that the sportsbooks didn’t do as well against the public during March Madness as they usually do.”
While it was solely the second March Madness with authorized betting in Illinois, the roughly 43% enhance within the complete quantity wagered was helped by a change within the state’s sports activities wagering act final month, which completely eradicated an in-person registration requirement. Illinois authorised sports activities wagering in 2019 as a part of a sweeping playing growth invoice, however clients beforehand wanted to enroll at a bricks-and-mortar sportsbook to wager on-line.
Illinois has 9 working retail sportsbooks, seven of which provide on-line sports activities betting. FanDuel, DraftKings and BetMGM, the three largest on-line sportsbooks within the U.S., are all partnered with downstate casinos. The amended regulation opened up the floodgates for the sportsbooks to woo Chicago-area clients, precipitating a seemingly nonstop blitz of TV adverts all through the month.
The state’s first sportsbook opened at Rivers Casino Des Plaines in March 2020. Within days, GuessRivers was closed and March Madness was canceled on the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Gov. J.B. Pritzker waived the in-person registration requirement for 10 months in the course of the pandemic, earlier than the state completely eradicated it March 5.
This yr, for the primary time, Illinois bettors had been allowed to wager on Illinois school groups, however solely in individual at 4 Illinois sportsbooks. The two Illinois entrants within the 68-team discipline didn’t final lengthy, with Illinois dropping to Houston within the second spherical, and Loyola making a first-round exit by the hands of Ohio State.
When Kansas overcame a 16-point deficit to win the championship, it broke a 59-year document held by the Ramblers, who fought again from 15 factors all the way down to win the 1963 title in opposition to Cincinnati.
Analysts projected the amended regulation would enhance Illinois to a document $1 billion in authorized sports activities bets in March. Totals for the month have but to be launched by the state.
“We should see a $1 billion month by the end of 2022, and this solidifies the idea that Illinois can be the No. 2 sports betting market in the U.S. behind New York,” Boozell mentioned.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com