Illinois Online Sports Betting Registration May End Soon for Operators
Illinois’s regulating authority has officially announced that they’ll be accepting applications until December 3rd, 2021, and there’s one more thing that might worry betting companies: only three applicants will be chosen by the state’s gaming board.
However, it is critical for bidders who are seeking a license to recognize that only those operators who have a temporary permit or no permit are eligible to apply; applicants who currently have a permanent operating authorization are not eligible. The IGB will be the regulating body that will decide which bidders are qualified and which bidders are not. As a result, only three betting operators will be allowed to operate online-only sports betting.
The procedure following the selection of bidders is fairly simple: the state’s gaming board will contact the selected three applicants within 90 days, and a license will be provided in their name, allowing the successful bidders to operate sports betting in the state. However, it is not as simple as it appears, as the Board has announced that in addition to the license bid, the successful bidders will be required to pay an extra $20 million charge in order to obtain the license to practice.
It must now pique your interest to learn more about the statistical basis for this bidding.
The Illinois gaming board clearly opted to start this new application procedure as a result of the stated decrease in sports betting handle. The sports betting handle has been declining for three consecutive months, according to statistics from May to July, and was down by 6.3 percent compared to the spring figures.
When officials dug deeper into the issue, they discovered that the cause for the drop in revenue from sports betting handles is that 95 percent of the betting audience is placing bets online due to the convenience and at-home comfort factor.
Therefore, the state’s gaming board decided that it would be beneficial to take advantage of this opportunity and require betting companies to seek a license to conduct online-only sports betting.
Many betting operators are pleased with this move, but the fee is prohibitively large. Despite the cost, obtaining such a license can be extremely beneficial to operators, allowing them to grow their business and product portfolio. COVID-19 has made a significant contribution to the emergence of the online sports betting storm.
FanDuel and Fairmount Casino currently dominate the state’s sports betting market, with combined revenue of more than $20 million. They are followed by Casino Queen, which has $13.6 million, and Midwest Gaming and Entertainment, which has over $7 million in Rush Street Interactive.
It will be quite fascinating to see which three lucky betting operators will be chosen and how they will impact the online sports betting sector.
