For the first time in 18 years, the Illinois Lottery has been supplanted as the state’s top source of gambling tax revenue, but industry leaders say it was still the top nationwide performer during a tough year for lotteries.
The Illinois Lottery racked up $3.76 billion in sales during the fiscal year that ended July 31, generating $789 million in Illinois tax revenue, according to a state report issued earlier this month.
That trailed the $871 million churned out for the state by the tens of thousands of slot machines in bars, restaurants and other establishments, marking the first time since 2007 that the lottery didn’t serve as Illinois’ biggest gambling cash cow.
The state also racked up $380 million in tax revenue from sports betting, $186 million from casinos and $7 million from horseracing, adding up to an all-time high $2.2 billion jackpot for Illinois government coffers.
While lotto sales were down about $100 million from the previous year, the decline of 2.6% was the smallest one among North American lotteries during a year without any of the billion-dollar-plus, multistate jackpots that typically boost sales, industry analysts at La Fleurs announced Tuesday.
It was the second straight year in the nation’s top spot for the Illinois Lottery, which is privately managed by the international corporation Allwyn.
“These results mean more funding for Illinois classrooms and communities at a time when stable revenue sources matter most,” Allwyn North America general manager Keith Horton said in a statement.
Illinois Lottery tax revenue is earmarked for education funding. Five of the last seven years have set lottery revenue records, with sales regressing after a pandemic boom in lottery popularity.
State analysts took last year’s dip as a sign “that lottery activity could be plateauing after years of strong growth.”
Sports betting revenue is still booming as Illinois’ legal market approaches its sixth year in business. Casinos made more than $1.3 billion off sports wagers last year, more than doubling revenue over a three-year span.
Those brick-and mortar houses of chance saw a fourth straight year of gross revenue increases for a total of $1.8 billion, but that’s mostly a result of the six new casinos that have been added to Illinois’ roster since 2020, state analysts found.
They’re all going after gambling dollars that continue to be sucked up by so-called video gambling terminals outside casinos, with more than 49,000 of them in operation during the most recent fiscal year for a whopping $3.1 billion profit.