Illinois Sees Third Month of Casino Gambling Revenue Growth

Illinois is sorting final details about the introduction of a new casino in Chicago with the final bid won by Bally’s and considered a shoo-in for the upcoming vote by both the Chicago City Council and Illinois Gaming Board. As the outcome of this development remains to be seen, Illinois’ gaming venues have managed to retain their upward momentum and post another strong month in gains.

Illinois Casinos Continue to See Revenue Grow in April

Casinos reported $122.4 million in revenue in April, once again improving on March’s results. March’s revenue results stood at $105.7 million for all of the state’s 11 venues. However, things have been looking up for Illinois with February, March and now April all posting upward trends that many hope will remain intact.

The revenue generated by casinos though does not include the sports gambling that is taking place in Illinois. All of this comes as a positive development as a number of officials is preparing to spearhead the Bally’s proposed casino project. Mayor Lori Lightfoot has been a particularly strong proponent of the project, often asking rhetorically if people would rather prefer a tax hike instead.

Meanwhile, the Illinois Gaming Board has focused on collating data from April, noting that there were 806,000 Illinois’ casinos in April. This constitutes a nearly 2.3% increase month-over-month in terms of the total number of visitors. The biggest winner in net visitors was the Hard Rock Rockford Casino which is a temporary set-up for the operator. Some 40,000 visited the Rockford property.

Rivers, one of the bidders for the Chicago Downtown Casino project, which was tossed out of the race, in the end, is still doing well with its existing venue anyway. Based in Des Plaines, the casino saw an increase of 8.6% in revenue from table games. A big driver of gaming results for the majority of companies was slotted.

Slots Remain Most Popular Options

Slots continued to see gamblers show the most interest in the segment out of all available gambling options. Slots continued to drive strong significant interest in gambling as a whole with electronic gaming devices (EGD) generating profit per spot ranging from $115.17 to $156.51 and more based on official data.

Meanwhile, video gaming terminals saw a decline of 2.3% in overall revenue in the month. The amount generated through that reached $243.8 million, lower than hoped for, but not in any way impacting the overall bottom line. Illinois remains a state where gambling is a popular pastime with interest showing a resilient upward trend.