Newly-Elected Illinois Governor Eyes Legal Sports Betting

Jay Robert Pritzker, better known as J.B. Pritzker, a new Illinois governor since 2019, mentioned in a report that he is really strongly believing in legal sports betting in this state.

He recently brought up a new budget proposal for 2020, where he included an estimate in future tax revenue at around $200 million.

In his proposal, Governor Pritzker mentions that he wants to legalize sports betting venues all across the state of Illinois…

…as well as allowing wagers to place their bets both in-person and online.

Points of the Bill

The plan is to give away 20 sports betting licenses that would each cost $10 million, together with a $5000 annual renewal fee. The operators that would hold the license in the future would be obligated to pay a tax rate at 20% on the revenue from sports wagering.

Pritzker believes that Illinois could generate somewhere between $384 million and $680 million in yearly gross sports betting revenue. Since the proposed tax rate is 20%…

…the tax revenue would come between $77 million and $136 million per year.

In the proposal, it is stated that during the first five years, operators would be able to deduct up to 90% of one-fifth of the initial license fee each year from the sports betting tax.

The Governor also said that the mentioned license fee, as well as the tax credit proposal, would give the state of Illinois the opportunity to generate around $200 million in revenue for 2020.

But, before implementing the budget, it has to be ed by the Illinois House and Senate.

Opinion from Other Lawmakers

Illinois Lawmakers are currently in the process of putting together a sports betting bill that has slightly different than the one the Governor proposed.

Napoleon Harris III, a former NFL American football player who is at the moment serving on the Senate of the state of Illinois…

…sponsored a bill named SBO176 that would allow in-person and online wagering in the Prairie state.

He also proposes in this bill a 12.5% tax rate on gross sports betting revenue, while Governor Pritzker proposes a 10% rate.

Discussing Sports Betting for a While Now

The lawmakers from the state of Illinois have been talking about regulating sports gambling for a while since the state representatives had a hearing about this matter back in October.

Representative Bob Rita, who in the past already proposed a couple of bills on gambling expansion, organized the hearing after being encouraged by New Jersey’s gambling market development.

“As I have said from the beginning in working on this issue, gaming expansion presents many tremendous opportunities to create revenue, jobs and economic growth in Illinois. The gaming landscape has changed significantly since I took on this issue five years ago, and I want to use these hearings to understand how those changes present new opportunities for us to put the right package together as we look to meet budget needs and provide a spark for our economy,” Rita said in a statement.

Source:

“New Illinois Governor eyes legal sports betting”, igamingbusiness.com, February 21, 2019.