Illinois Casino Revenue Blossoms in July as New Facilities Fuel Growth
Posted on: August 14, 2025, 10:08h.
Last updated on: August 14, 2025, 10:13h.
- The Illinois casino market is booming
- July gross gaming revenue soared 23% from a year ago
- New casinos are fueling the revenue surge
While some commercial gaming states are experiencing in-person revenue declines this summer, it’s quite a different story in Illinois, where the state casino market continues to expand.
The Illinois Gaming Board (IGB) reports that gross gaming revenue (GGR) at the state’s 17 brick-and-mortar casinos totaled more than $167.5 million in July. That represented a 23.3% year-over-year increase, a difference of almost $31.7 million, from July 2024, when casinos won $135.8 million.
Illinois gamblers love slots, as electronic games accounted for almost $127.6 million of the July haul. Felt win was less than $40 million.
Rivers Casino Des Plaines maintained its front-runner position with July GGR of over $44 million. The casino at Chicago’s O’Hare was the only Illinois gaming property to win more than $19 million last month.
Wind Creek Chicago Southland was a distant second at $18.8 million. No other casino won more than $13 million.
Casino Expansion
Illinois’ commercial casino industry continues to grow. Last month, all but two casinos reported year-over-year GGR gains.
The lone losers were Hollywood Casino Joliet, which saw its win slow 44% to $4.2 million, and Harrah’s Joliet Casino & Hotel, which saw revenue slow 3% to $10.6 million.
Hollywood Joliet’s GGR drop was expected, as the riverboat was only open for 28 days last month. Operator Penn Entertainment closed the gaming vessel on July 29 after 33 years in business.
Penn has since opened Hollywood Casino Joliet in a new land-based facility about two miles from where its riverboat docked. The $185 million brick-and-mortar casino has considerably more gaming positions than did the boat, with 1,000 slot machines, 43 live-dealer table games, a high-limit area, and an ESPN Bet Sportsbook. Hollywood Joliet additionally has a restaurant from celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis and an events center.
July 2025 benefited from having two additional casinos in operation — Wind Creek and Fairmount Park.
Wind Creek comes from the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, a federally recognized tribe based in Alabama. The tribe’s commercial Wind Creek Chicago Southland opened in November 2024.
Chicago Southland has 81K square feet of gaming space, the largest casino in Illinois. The floor is equipped with 1,400 slots, 56 tables, and a sportsbook.
Fairmount brought slot machines and electronic table games to the horse racetrack after being acquired by Accel Entertainment. The casino features about 300 gaming positions.
More Growth Likely
It’s a good bet that GGR in Illinois will only increase in the coming years, as additional facilities open.
Boyd Gaming is mulling a new Par-A-Dice casino investment to replace its longtime riverboat in East Peoria. A turf war regarding where the new casino would be built is ongoing between the cities of East Peoria and Peoria.
The IGB continues to stress that casino gambling is only permitted in person. The state gaming regulatory agency this year has sent numerous cease and desist letters to unregulated, unlicensed online casino, sportsbook, and prediction market platforms, including to Kalshi, Bovada, Crypto.com, Robinhood, and BetOnline.
A bill to ban online sweepstakes casinos remains under consideration in the Illinois General Assembly.
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