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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 · lower holdMomentum +13%YoY −8%

Your performance · August 2026

NTI
$36,970
net terminal income · this month
Win per unit
$199
per machine · per day
Terminals
6
machines in service
Annual NTI
$476,165
trailing 12 months

The four numbers operators read first

NTI / machine
$6,162
monthly · per terminal
state median $4,345/mo
65th pct of 8,611 IL locations
#18 of 27 in Wheeling
Hold
7.5%
this month
state median 9.4% · below
18th pct of 8,611 IL locations
11th pct of 27 in Wheeling
Cycle rate
2.54×
this month
state median 2.60× · engagement
42nd pct of 8,611 IL locations
74th pct of 27 in Wheeling
Play / machine
$82.6K
monthly · per terminal
state median $47.1K/mo
75th pct of 8,611 IL locations
41st pct of 27 in Wheeling

Against locations your size (6+ terminals, 6,794 of them), your NTI/machine is +$1,052/mo vs the $5,109 peer median — bucketing by size keeps a small bar from being measured against a big one.

Where the money goes (August 2026)

NTI this month
$36,970
Gaming tax
−$12,940
After tax
$24,031
Your take-home
$12,015
your 50% this month
Gaming tax$12,940 · 35%Operator's 50%$12,015 · 32%Yours, 50%$12,015 · 33%

Illinois law fixes the after-tax split at 50/50 and bans any deviation (230 ILCS 40/25(c)) — about $12,015 to you and $12,015 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 · lower hold

Plenty of traffic, but the hold runs below the market — the right game mix could turn that demand into more income.

What an operator sees: An operator sees busy machines with margin headroom — a gameset where better titles and merchandising pay off.

NTI/machine — 65th percentile of 8,611 Illinois locations this month
In Wheeling — #18 of 27 locations by NTI/machine (your own neighborhood, the fairest like-for-like)
Among locations your size (6+ terminals) — 59th percentile of 6,794
Your gameset — you among your Wheeling peers26 peer locations
play per machine →
your gameset a Wheeling peer (anonymized) statewide median

1 peer location sits beyond the axis range and is 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 ($45,213)
Cycle rate by monthlatest 2.54× · state median 2.60×
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 $199 · Wheeling median $243
your WPU (per machine, per day) Wheeling median WPU
Hold % by monthlatest 7.5% · 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 monthAugust 2026 down 8% on a year earlier
September 2025 – August 2026September 2024 – August 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: July → August moved −39% this year vs −19% 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 +26% year over year (trailing 3 months vs the same 3 a year ago).

Your own gameset is −8% over the same-month-last-year comparison — the town's tide explains part of the move; it isn't all your gameset.

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)
$199/day
per machine · per day · Wheeling median $243/day · −18%
At the Wheeling median this gameset would add roughly $98,909 a year.
WPU momentum
+48%
last 3 months $265/day vs prior 3 $179/day
Seasonality
July peak
strongest July ($53,248 avg) · softest September ($36,890 avg)
Revenue steadiness
variable
±23% 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
$61,648
Avg NTI / Terminal
$11,041
Total NTI
$739,778

Year over year

Your NTI is −20% down year over year, trailing the Cook County market (+5%).

Your Location
−20%
$476,165 vs $595,044 (last 12 months vs the prior 12)
The market (Cook County)
+5%
typical Location: $42,503 vs $40,673

Takeaways

•Each terminal earned about $6,162 in August 2026 — the 65th percentile of 8,611 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 #18 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 7.5% — below the 9.4% state median, which a stronger game mix could recover. 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 2.54× 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 · lower hold — Plenty of traffic, but the hold runs below the market — the right game mix could turn that demand into more income.
•After $12,940 in gaming tax, August 2026's income is split 50/50 with your operator by law (230 ILCS 40/25(c)) — about $12,015 to you. Neither side can move that split, which is why operators here compete on service.
•Recent momentum is building — +13% against your trailing average.
•Terminal Operator Great American Gaming, LLC runs 12 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 August 2026 report detail
Amount played
$495,514
Amount won
$458,544
Net wager
$36,970
Funds in
$195,313
Funds out
$158,342
Net terminal income
$36,970
NTI tax
$12,940
State share
$11,089
Municipality share
$1,850

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