Circa Sports Institutes $10 Minimum Illinois Sports Bet

• Circa Sports recently announced a $10 minimum bet for Illinois sports betting customers
• It is the highest minimum bet amount of licensed operators in the state
• The company is the latest Illinois operator to set a per-bet fee or minimum in the state

Circa Sports announced it is adding a $10 minimum bet amount for Illinois sports betting customers as means to counteract the state’s per-bet fee.

Circa Sports CEO/COO Derek Stevens announced the new bet minimum on Friday, Aug. 15, on social media.

“We will not charge a fee on any wager made in the state of Illinois. Circa Sports is going to protect the sports bettor. The way we’ll do that is to raise the minimum bet to $10. Our focus is going to be on the real sports bettors of Illinois, who should not have to pay a fee to make a bet,” he said in the announcement.

Circa Joins Operators to Address Bet Fees

Circa Sports is the latest operator to announce it would be raising its Illinois bet minimum or instituting a per-bet fee of its own. Circa Sports is the eighth licensed Illinois sportsbook to address the state’s changes to its sports betting market and the second to do so last week. ESPN Bet announced a $1 minimum bet amount in the state on Thursday, Aug. 15.

The state instituted a $0.25 charge on the first 20,000,000 online sports bets taken each year, which increases to $0.50 per bet for every single bet taken after the initial 20,000,000 bets.

Illinois began charging all licensed operators the per-bet fee on July 1. According to a report from the Chicago Tribune, the new fee is expected to bring in $36 million annually to the state.

DraftKings, FanDuel, and Fanatics have all instituted per-bet fees for users to counteract the state’s new charge. Fanatics Sportsbooks will begin charging users $0.25 per bet later this year, while DraftKings and FanDuel both announced a $0.50 charge per bet.

BetMGM, Hard Rock Bet, and BetRivers also made a similar change as ESPN Bet, as the books all upped their minimum bet amounts in Illinois. Hard Rock Bet instituted a $2 minimum bet amount for users, BetMGM instituted a $2.50 minimum bet amount, and BetRivers now requires a $1 minimum bet.

Two Books Have Yet to Make Changes

With Circa Sports announcement, only two licensed sports betting operators in Illinois have yet to address the state fees.

Caesars Sportsbook and bet365 are the two remaining sportsbooks that have yet to make a change in the Prairie State.