Illinois terminals had their best September in five years

Every month we pull the Illinois Gaming Board’s published figures and look at what they say about the market as a whole. No opinions, no projections — just the state’s own numbers, arranged so they answer a question an owner or an operator actually has.

Two issues ago we reported that Illinois had stopped adding locations, and last month that it was running out of rooms with space for another machine. September shows what the machines already in those rooms are doing.

Each machine earned more than in any September we hold

An Illinois terminal earned $188.11 a day in September 2026. A year earlier it was $177.05, so that is up 6.2%.

Here is every September since 2021, per terminal per day:

• September 2021: $174.91
• September 2022: $172.93
• September 2023: $171.80
• September 2024: $169.46
• September 2025: $177.05
• September 2026: $188.11

For three years the figure went down, a little each time, while the state kept adding machines. In the last two it has gone up, and this year by more than the three years of decline combined. September 2026 is 7.5% above September 2021.