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Paone's Blackhawk Lanes

Sterling · Whiteside County · IL · 6 terminals
IGB license 120700399 · Operator: Accel Entertainment Gaming, LLC (as of August 2026)
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Efficient gamesetMomentum +16%YoY +87%

Your performance · September 2026

NTI
$6,226
net terminal income · this month
Win per unit
$35
per machine · per day
Terminals
6
machines in service
Annual NTI
$65,277
trailing 12 months

The four numbers operators read first

NTI / machine
$1,038
monthly · per terminal
state median $4,170/mo
10th pct of 8,629 IL locations
#30 of 35 in Sterling
Hold
10.4%
this month
state median 9.4% · above
69th pct of 8,629 IL locations
54th pct of 35 in Sterling
Cycle rate
2.47×
this month
state median 2.59× · engagement
34th pct of 8,629 IL locations
46th pct of 35 in Sterling
Play / machine
$10.0K
monthly · per terminal
state median $45.5K/mo
7th pct of 8,629 IL locations
26th pct of 35 in Sterling

Against locations your size (6+ terminals, 6,823 of them), your NTI/machine is −$3,951/mo vs the $4,988 peer median — bucketing by size keeps a small bar from being measured against a big one.

Where the money goes (September 2026)

NTI this month
$6,226
Gaming tax
−$2,179
After tax
$4,047
Your take-home
$2,023
your 50% this month
Gaming tax$2,179 · 35%Operator's 50%$2,023 · 32%Yours, 50%$2,023 · 32%

Illinois law fixes the after-tax split at 50/50 and bans any deviation (230 ILCS 40/25(c)) — about $2,023 to you and $2,023 to your operator this month. Neither side can move that split. That's the whole point of The Gameset: with the split set by statute, operators compete for your gameset on service — games, cabinets, refresh cadence, response time.

Where your gameset stands

Efficient gameset

You earn a strong hold from steady traffic — the lever here is drawing more play, not squeezing the machines.

What an operator sees: An operator sees a well-run, efficient gameset — attractive, with upside if foot traffic can be grown.

NTI/machine — 10th percentile of 8,629 Illinois locations this month
In Sterling — #30 of 35 locations by NTI/machine (your own neighborhood, the fairest like-for-like)
Among locations your size (6+ terminals) — 7th percentile of 6,823
Your gameset — you among your Sterling peers34 peer locations
play per machine →
your gameset a Sterling peer (anonymized) statewide median

2 peer locations sit beyond the axis range and are drawn at the edge — shown, never dropped.

Each gray dot is another Sterling gameset for the same month, shown without identity. The dashed lines are the statewide medians — which quadrant you land in is the positioning above, drawn out.

Trend

Net terminal income by monthpeak $19,381
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
latest month up vs prior down vs prior Sterling median ($19,381) shown, left out of rankings
Cycle rate by monthlatest 2.47× · state median 2.59×
your cycle rate state median

Cycle rate is a leading indicator: when players start cycling their money fewer times, it usually shows up here before it shows up in NTI — an early read on gameset health for you and for an operator.

Win per unit by monthlatest $35 · Sterling median $108
your WPU (per machine, per day) Sterling median WPU
Hold % by monthlatest 10.4% · state median 9.4%
your hold state median hold

These are the two series a service change shows up in. Fresher titles and faster response tend to move win per unit first; hold follows the game mix. Both are your own numbers against a neutral market line — not a verdict on anyone.

This year against last, by monthSeptember 2026 up 87% on a year earlier
October 2025 – September 2026October 2024 – September 2025

A month that looks like a collapse is often just that month. Laid over the same months a year earlier, a seasonal dip and a real decline stop looking alike.

Seasonality check: August → September moved −31% this year vs −37% a year ago — so a normal seasonal dip isn't mistaken for a real decline.

Your town's market

Sterling's total gaming income is −2% year over year (trailing 3 months vs the same 3 a year ago).

Your own gameset is +87% over the same-month-last-year comparison — holding up as well as or better than the town around you.

A deeper operator read

The same history, cut the way a Terminal Operator cuts it when they decide how hard to compete for your gameset.

Win per unit (WPU)
$35/day
per machine · per day · Sterling median $108/day · −68%
At the Sterling median this gameset would add roughly $157,866 a year.
WPU momentum
+2%
last 3 months $30/day vs prior 3 $29/day
Seasonality
March peak
strongest March ($12,193 avg) · softest July ($2,773 avg)
Revenue steadiness
volatile
±48% month-to-month swing, trailing 12

Your operator

Accel Entertainment Gaming, LLC

Linked to your Location as of August 2026 — the Illinois Gaming Board publishes this each month, so a recent change may not show yet.

Locations
2,679
Avg NTI / Location
$28,734
Avg NTI / Terminal
$4,975
Total NTI
$76,978,768

Year over year

Your NTI is −11% down year over year, trailing the Whiteside County market (+1%).

Your Location
−11%
$65,277 vs $73,599 (last 12 months vs the prior 12)
The market (Whiteside County)
+1%
typical Location: $25,173 vs $24,935

Takeaways

•Each terminal earned about $1,038 in September 2026 — the 10th percentile of 8,629 Illinois locations that month. Per-terminal NTI is the number operators judge a gameset by, because it strips out how many machines you run.
•Within Sterling, that's #30 of 35 locations by per-terminal earnings — the fairest like-for-like, since neighbors share the same foot traffic and economy.
•Hold — the share of money played that the gameset keeps — was 10.4% — above the 9.4% state median. Hold is driven mostly by the games in the gameset, which is exactly what an operator brings to the table.
•A dollar cycled through your machines 2.47× before leaving — higher means longer, more engaged sessions. When the cycle rate starts falling it usually shows up before NTI does, so it's an early read on gameset health for both sides.
•Efficient gameset — You earn a strong hold from steady traffic — the lever here is drawing more play, not squeezing the machines.
•After $2,179 in gaming tax, September 2026's income is split 50/50 with your operator by law (230 ILCS 40/25(c)) — about $2,023 to you. Neither side can move that split, which is why operators here compete on service.
•Recent momentum is building — +16% against your trailing average.
•Terminal Operator Accel Entertainment Gaming, LLC runs 2679 Locations in our data.
There's headroom in these numbers.

Operators bid on what they'd put in your gameset — newer cabinets, better titles, faster fixes. We'll turn your profile into an anonymized Listing they compete on.

Create your Listing
Full September 2026 report detail
Amount played
$59,750
Amount won
$53,525
Net wager
$6,226
Funds in
$24,184
Funds out
$17,958
Net terminal income
$6,226
NTI tax
$2,179
State share
$1,867
Municipality share
$312

Source: Illinois Gaming Board monthly video gaming reports. This is public data about your own licensed Location, shown for informational purposes.