FanDuel users in Illinois are once again paying an extra 50 cents on certain sports bets. The sportsbook reinstated its per-bet fee on October 7 after suspending it in April. The charge primarily affects bettors who prefer smaller wagers. Those placing larger straight bets or parlays can avoid the fee.
At FanDuel, straight bets of at least $25 are exempt from the fee, along with parlays of $10 or more. Bets placed entirely with bonus bets also avoid the charge. That leaves smaller wagers subject to the fee.
For example, someone placing a $5 straight bet would pay another 50 cents, bringing the total cost to $5.50. That’s an extra 10% of the original wager. However, someone betting $25 on the same selection wouldn’t face an additional charge.
The difference becomes even more noticeable for customers betting $1 or $2 at a time. A 50-cent fee on a $1 wager represents half the original stake.
The fee comes from Illinois’ decision to impose a per-wager tax on licensed sportsbooks. Under the system, operators pay 25 cents on each of their first 20 million accepted wagers during the fiscal year. That amount increases to 50 cents for every wager beyond the threshold.
Illinois also has a graduated sportsbook revenue tax ranging from 20% to 40%. This means operators face additional costs based on both their revenue and the number of bets they accept.
FanDuel announced the fee in June 2025 and began charging Illinois customers in September before temporarily suspending it in April 2026.
This isn’t the only sportsbook to change its approach because of Illinois’ tax structure. DraftKings has also introduced a per-wager fee, while BetRivers took a different approach by increasing its minimum wager. BetRivers previously raised its minimum bet in Illinois from $1 to $5.
Both moves show how Illinois’ tax changes have influenced the options available to sports bettors.
A flat 50-cent fee doesn’t affect everyone equally. Someone betting $20 might not notice the additional charge as much as a customer placing several $1 wagers throughout the day.
Consider a bettor placing $1 straight bets at +100 odds. Without the fee, winning half of those wagers would be enough to break even. With the additional 50-cent charge, each bet costs $1.50. However, a winning wager still generates only $1 in profit.
That means the bettor would need to win approximately 66.7% of those bets just to break even. The math becomes less punishing as wager sizes increase, but the extra cost still makes qualifying bets less favorable.
While most recreational bettors aren’t viewing their wagers through such a granular lens, it’s still worth noting how this negatively impacts their chances of being profitable in sports betting.
It remains to be seen how this will impact FanDuel’s market share in Illinois, since recreational bettors may choose an alternative to avoid these fees.
