Illinois To Fully Legalize Sports Betting

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (3 votes, average: 3.67 out of 5)
Loading...
Illinoise Sports Betting Legalisation

Legalization of sports betting in the U.S. seems to be moving full tilt ahead. Over the last weekend in Illinois, a capital funding bill was finally approved. It implies a broad expansion of gambling, including sports gambling.

It has already become almost a proverbial story that the state of Illinois passes many important decisions at the last second. This time, the Illinois lawmakers voted to legalize sports betting on the last day of the session; now the only thing missing is the governor’s signature. Governor J.B. Pritzker is definitely going to sign it into law, as his role in promoting this development has been quite significant. He believes that approval of betting in the state would generate about $200 million in revenue to the state budget of Illinois.

The outcomes of the bill are many, including launching a brick-and-mortar casino in Chicago (already in the works for a long time) and authorization of retail and online sports betting. Casinos, sports venues and racing tracks are now allowed to offer in-person and online sports wagering. The new law also significantly expands a lottery implementation.

Based on the gross revenues from the past year, the license fee for sports betting has been calculated. For the casinos, it will be 5% of their past year’s revenue – this kind of licensing alone is going to generate about $10 million for the state.

However, IL mayor Lightfoot has been quite critical towards the new legislation, as it implies full legalization of sports betting at stadiums. She has rightfully pointed out that the impact of stadium-betting has not been fully analyzed and that it could potentially divert customers and revenues from the casinos. Nevertheless, an agreement has been reached through the provisions to limit the amount of betting and to restrict the number of locations offering this kind of wagering – clearly, subject to constant oversight and control.

It should be noted that all these changes are going to seriously affect related businesses and markets. The issue itself is quite delicate. Any attempt to restrict sports wagering, for example, to casinos and racetracks, raises objections from other venues potentially interested in providing such services. Video gaming retailers are concerned about their revenues as they understand that if customers are going to wager from their mobile phones, there would be fewer customers in the slot parlors, and so on.

Illinois is one of the states where sports leagues have a strong pull. The new law is going to be very beneficial for them because of the integrity fees – the revenues generated by the taxation of sports betting.

The new bill is a big step forward. A year ago, the same attempt to legalize sports betting in Illinois had failed after many discussions and a subsequent decision to seriously rework the legislation proposed. As Rep. Lou Lang said last year, “It is more important that we do it right than we do it fast.”

Thus, in 2019, Illinois becomes the 16th state in the U.S. (+ Washington, D.C.) where sports wagering is allowed (with, however, many important differences and nuances in their respective legislation).

Related Posts

Read more

Italy Is Planning to Ban All Gambling Adverts

Italy will take severe precautionary measures to prevent minors from developing a gambling addiction by halting all sorts of betting-induced advertisements. It is said that games of chance destroy families, and that the prohibition of the ads that encourage betting should, therefore, preserve Italian integrity. Luigi Maio, Deputy Prime Minister of Italy, delivered a speech […]

Read More

American Sports Betting Conference. It’s Going to Be Epic!

Are you done packing? We know it may be a bit soon, but we’re just too excited about this event, and it’s tough to wait. So we don’t know about you, but we’ve got our pass, tickets, swimsuits… wait a minute, it’s in New York, and it’s on November 27th-28th, so apparently, we’ll have to […]

Read More

History of Online Gambling: from Early Internet Times to Nowadays

Internet gambling has developed rapidly and turned into an international industry that unites millions of people and is valued at billions of US dollars. The history of gambling online has had many twists and turns as many legislative bodies have tried to outlaw it since the beginning of the 21st century. But despite all these […]

Read More

Gambling in China

The flashing lights of Macau and Hong Kong are going to steal your soul once and for all! Not only do baccarat or the Chinese version of poker represent some truly alluring prospects in this marvelous country; but in addition, its incredible gambling traditions are going to take your breath away! Despite the fact that […]

Read More
YOU MAY LIKE IT