DraftKings Shutters Wrigley Field Location as In-Venue Sportsbooks Wane
Never able to gain traction as a retail sportsbook in the digital age, DraftKings' Wrigleyville location has closed for good.
The era of the in-venue sportsbook (if there ever really was one) drew closer to an end on Monday with DraftKings announcing it would close its unprofitable outlet attached to Wrigley Field.
The news was first reported by The Chicago Tribune.
Launched two years ago, the green-slathered DraftKings space at the northwest corner of Addison Street and Sheffield Avenue was a perfectly serviceable sports pub with copious televisions and grub by the plateful, but it never succeeded as a sportsbook, with just a few kiosks and ticket writers available. Even then, they were sparsely used, thanks largely to legal sports betting being available in Illinois on mobile phones.
Sports betting operators pay an effective tax rate as high as about 50% in Illinois. The state levies a progressive tax of 20-40% on gambling revenues plus a per wager tax of 25 cents on the first 20 million wagers and 50 cents thereafter, and the city of Chicago layers a 10.25% tax on net revenue. There were not enough wings and pretzels on the North Side to make the place worth it.
Said DraftKings in a statement:
“While we are proud of what we have built alongside the Chicago Cubs, we are taking a more focused approach to where we invest in the state. The cost of operating in Illinois, including its high tax structure, makes it more difficult to justify continued investment in a standalone retail sportsbook. We remain committed to serving our mobile sportsbook customers.”
DraftKings Closure Not Just a Chicago Problem
While the Wrigley Field failure was heavily affected by local issues, the concept of in-venue sportsbooks has been crumbling for years.
Sportsbooks either inside arenas – as is the case with the first mover in North America, a Caesars outlet inside Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., in 2021 – or nearby, such as the BetMGM Sportsbook near State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, or adjacent, like at Wrigley, have simply not proved popular enough with fans or gamblers.
Industry experts and trends assert that most bettors in attendance simply prefer a mobile option, and non-bettors don’t choose to take away from a live experience by lingering in a dark sportsbook when they could be in their seats, watching an expensive form of entertainment.
Since opening in March 2024, the DraftKings sportsbook, operated under Northside Crown Gaming LLC, has generated just $17 million in reported handle, ranking it 13th of 15 retail venues in the state.
The story was similar elsewhere, with sportsbooks closing in or near the homes of the Phoenix Suns, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Guardians, and Washington Nationals within the past two years. The Fanatics Sportsbook at Progressive Field in Cleveland shuttered in 2025 after losing $226,000 and accepting just $19,018 bets that year. The space was converted to a retail shop.
In Cincinnati, where the Reds and their relationship to sports betting always seem in close proximity, BetMGM moved just across the street, within a short lob from the statue of Pete Rose.
The abandoned FanDuel Sportsbook at the former Footprint Center in Phoenix was converted into a banded lounge.
Arizona, DC Still Rocking Sportsbooks in Arenas
Most of the holdouts reside in the Washington, D.C., and Arizona markets, with three of the “big four” teams in each maintaining such relationships.
One of those, the Washington Commanders, play in Maryland, but host a Fanatics Sportsbook inside Northwest Stadium.
DraftKings couldn’t unlock retail in Chicago, but might have found in Arizona the secret to making sportsbooks at venues work: partner up with a golf course. Its retail outlet at TPC Scottsdale is by far the most-patronized of the three pro venues in the state.
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