Illinois Governor to Decide the Future of Sports Betting

The Illinois sports betting bill has gone through approval from both the House and the state Senate. This is actually a bill written in order to expand gambling throughout the state…

…but it includes measures on legalization of sports betting as well.

The Illinois bill, also known as the Senate Bill 690, was at first focused on changes that have to be made on property tax rates. But, it has been additionally expanded various times through a series of amendments.

The Sports Wagering Act

Those changes include the ones that came from Representative, Robert Rita, who also added a Sports Wagering Act.

The bill includes lawmakers’ plans to allow sports wagering at existing and new casinos in Illinois, as well as at racetracks and via online.

The Senate approved the bill with 87 votes in favor and 27 against it on Saturday…

…while the House approved it as well with 46 votes in favor and 10 against the bill the following day.

Now, the only thing left is the signature of Governor, J.B. Pritzker, which is expected to happen at some point during the month of June.

Since the Governor has in the past already spoken publicly that he truly s gambling expansion in the state of Illinois, he will with no doubt give a big thumbs up to this bill.

More Details

As it is stated in bill SB 690, the Illinois Gaming Board will have permission to issue six different types of licenses to operators that would like to offer their services in this US state.

It includes master sports wagering, occupational, supplier, management services provider…

…tier two official league data provider and central system provider licenses.

Each operator may apply for a license for its service or offering, but the fee will be set at 5% of the operator’s revenue from the following calendar year. It can be $10 million as a maximum.

Master licenses will last for four years and can be extended for four more years, but it would cost each licensee $1 million. This type of license will cover in-person betting, as well as mobile and online wagering.

Each operator that obtains a master license will have to pay a tax of 15% on their adjusted gross sports wagering receipts and will be able to pay it each month.

As mentioned in the bill, all proceeds from the taxes will be given to the Sports Wagering Fund, which will be created later on.

Responsible Gambling Measures

It is also mentioned in the bill that each licensee will have to respect certain responsible gambling measures…

…which include the self-exclusion program.

Each Illinois consumer will be able to voluntarily sign up to if they want to remove themselves from gambling.

The bill does not mention anything about the integrity fee for sports leagues, but in the legislation there is a requirement for operators to use only official data supplied by professional leagues and colleges.

Other measures included in the bill would enable both professional leagues and colleges to restrict certain bets…

…including the blanket ban on betting on Illinois-based college teams.

There is also restriction when it comes to registration for online sports betting which says that consumers are required to sign up at land-based venues for the first 18 months after the bill officially starts being active.

Source:

“Illinois sports betting bill clears legislature after last minute push“, Robin Harrison-Millan, igbnorthamerica.com, June 3, 2019.