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Sofias Gaming Cafe

Wheeling · Cook County · IL · 6 terminals
IGB license 220701063 · Operator: Great American Gaming, LLC (as of August 2026)
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High play · high holdMomentum +26%YoY +69%

Your performance · September 2026

NTI
$63,535
net terminal income · this month
Win per unit
$353
per machine · per day
Terminals
6
machines in service
Annual NTI
$502,117
trailing 12 months

The four numbers operators read first

NTI / machine
$10,589
monthly · per terminal
state median $4,170/mo
88th pct of 8,629 IL locations
#11 of 27 in Wheeling
Hold
10.3%
this month
state median 9.4% · above
66th pct of 8,629 IL locations
67th pct of 27 in Wheeling
Cycle rate
2.64×
this month
state median 2.59× · engagement
56th pct of 8,629 IL locations
83rd pct of 27 in Wheeling
Play / machine
$103.2K
monthly · per terminal
state median $45.5K/mo
85th pct of 8,629 IL locations
61st pct of 27 in Wheeling

Against locations your size (6+ terminals, 6,823 of them), your NTI/machine is +$5,601/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
$63,535
Gaming tax
−$22,237
After tax
$41,298
Your take-home
$20,649
your 50% this month
Gaming tax$22,237 · 35%Operator's 50%$20,649 · 32%Yours, 50%$20,649 · 33%

Illinois law fixes the after-tax split at 50/50 and bans any deviation (230 ILCS 40/25(c)) — about $20,649 to you and $20,649 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

High play · high hold

Strong demand and a healthy hold — your gameset is doing well on both the traffic and the margin side.

What an operator sees: An operator reads this as a proven, high-value gameset and will compete hard on service to win it.

NTI/machine — 88th percentile of 8,629 Illinois locations this month
In Wheeling — #11 of 27 locations by NTI/machine (your own neighborhood, the fairest like-for-like)
Among locations your size (6+ terminals) — 85th percentile of 6,823
Your gameset — you among your Wheeling peers26 peer locations
play per machine →
your gameset a Wheeling peer (anonymized) statewide median

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

Each gray dot is another Wheeling 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 $70,260
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
latest month up vs prior down vs prior Wheeling median ($52,705)
Cycle rate by monthlatest 2.64× · 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 $353 · Wheeling median $293
your WPU (per machine, per day) Wheeling median WPU
Hold % by monthlatest 10.3% · 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 69% 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 +72% this year vs −6% a year ago — so a normal seasonal dip isn't mistaken for a real decline.

Your town's market

Wheeling's total gaming income is +29% year over year (trailing 3 months vs the same 3 a year ago).

Your own gameset is +69% 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)
$353/day
per machine · per day · Wheeling median $293/day · +21%
WPU momentum
+34%
last 3 months $292/day vs prior 3 $217/day
Seasonality
July peak
strongest July ($53,248 avg) · softest June ($38,558 avg)
Revenue steadiness
variable
±27% month-to-month swing, trailing 12

Your operator

Great American 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
12
Avg NTI / Location
$55,713
Avg NTI / Terminal
$9,979
Total NTI
$668,560

Year over year

Your NTI is −15% down year over year, trailing the Cook County market (+5%).

Your Location
−15%
$502,117 vs $590,615 (last 12 months vs the prior 12)
The market (Cook County)
+5%
typical Location: $42,751 vs $40,728

Takeaways

•Each terminal earned about $10,589 in September 2026 — the 88th 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 Wheeling, that's #11 of 27 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 10.3% — 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 2.64× 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.
•High play · high hold — Strong demand and a healthy hold — your gameset is doing well on both the traffic and the margin side.
•After $22,237 in gaming tax, September 2026's income is split 50/50 with your operator by law (230 ILCS 40/25(c)) — about $20,649 to you. Neither side can move that split, which is why operators here compete on service.
•Recent momentum is building — +26% against your trailing average.
•Terminal Operator Great American Gaming, LLC runs 12 Locations in our data.
You're ahead of your market.

A gameset doing these numbers is the one Operators compete hardest for — and most owners never find out what that competition is worth, because they never put it out to bid.

Create your Listing
Full September 2026 report detail
Amount played
$618,959
Amount won
$555,425
Net wager
$63,535
Funds in
$234,343
Funds out
$170,808
Net terminal income
$63,535
NTI tax
$22,237
State share
$19,057
Municipality share
$3,180

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