Illinois is 1 step away from sports gambling after a last-ditch campaign from Rep. Bob Rita fell into place this weekend.
House lawmakers voted to approve a broad expansion of gambling inside a capital financing bill on Saturday, and the Senate followed suit on Sunday. Gambling provisions within the act include a long-awaited casino in Chicago and consent for both retail and internet sports betting.
The bill goes to the desk of Gov. J.B. Pritzker, whose current remarks make it clear he will sign it into law. The governor helped shepherd IL sports gambling across the end line, seeking to drive more than $200 million in extra earnings to his state.
Passage was, honestly, a remarkable feat taking into consideration the absence of progress during the first five months of this year. Previous proposals from Rep. Mike Zalewski were turned aside, and a perceived conflict of interest forced him to step back in the final days of session.
LSR has been keeping a close watch on the chatter this weekend and upgrading this webpage as the situation unfolded. Here is the play-by-play:
Is Sunday the day for Illinois sports gambling?
The Senate eventually takes the ground after 4 p.m. local time. It doesn’t take long.
Sen. Terry Link presents the conditions of this amended bill, which carries a total projected financial impact of $12 billion. Commendations and favorable comments from Sen. Dave Syverson, the Senate Minority Leader, seem to indicate that passage is a certainty.
Comments are brief and largely surface-level, using a few lawmakers lugging around in narrow provisions which affect their constituents. Sen. John Curran is the only one who talks to sports gambling at any given length, looking for clarification about the branding provisions for internet platforms.
Link is psychological as he shuts the event, representing on his 20-year effort to increase economic growth from manufacturing.
The room applauds as the board lights up green, and also the Senate concurs with the House changes by a 46-10 vote. Just like that, the bill that will legalize sports gambling in Illinois is led to the governor.
IL sports gambling bill as amended
Here’s the full text of the language:
What’s in the amendment?
The new vertical financing bill includes a multi-level gaming package headlined by a mega-casino in Chicago. The measure also has six categories of licensure for IL sports gambling:
Master sports wagering
Occupational
Supplier
Management services supplier Tier two official league data provider Central system supplier In plain terms, these categories allow casinos, race tracks, and sports venues to offer sports gambling — equally in-person and online. The provisions that concern online betting, nevertheless, require in-person enrollment for the first 18 months.
The amendment also authorizes a lottery implementation encompassing 2,500 places in the very first year.
IL sports betting details
The fee for a master sports betting license is calculated based on gross gaming revenue from the previous year. Casinos will pay 5% of that number to offer sports gambling for four yearsup to a max of $10 million. That cap wasn’t present in recent versions and should alleviate the burden on large operators such as Rush Street Gaming. Rita also softened the projected tax rate down to 15 percent of earnings.
As you can infer from the classes, language mandating using official league data for props and in-play gambling stuck. While there’s no ethics fee, the bill does empower colleges and sports leagues to restrict the kinds of accessible wagers. As composed, weatherproof collegiate sports are off the board in Illinois.
The change removes the overall blackout period for internet betting that snuck to a previous version, but it does retain a modified penalty box for DraftKings and FanDuel. Daily fantasy sports companies will be allowed to compete in the sport betting arena, but just master licensees can provide online wagering for the first 18 months.
The change also generates three online-only licenses costing $20 million apiece, given on a delay via a competitive procedure.
Saturday: Agreement reached for IL sports gambling About three hours into the weekend semester, we’re still in a holding pattern. House lawmakers have ticked several more things off their to-do list now, such as a bill that raises the minimum wages for Illinois teachers. For now, however, there’s nothing new to report online sports betting.
Apart from the things we are already touched on, a couple other hurdles have cropped up.
Perhaps most importantly, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot publicly opposes the bill as written. Her principal concern is the provision allowing sportsbooks inside of stadiums and arenas.
Mayoral opposition leads to’comprehension’
Here’s the statement from Mayor Lightfoot, as mentioned by Capitol Fax:
“I firmly support a gaming bill that directs a new casino and dollars to the city of Chicago. However, I oppose the addition of a provision that would open sports wagering in areas like Soldier Field. This type of proposal has the potential to undermine the viability of any Chicago-based casino via the diversion of consumers and revenue from a casino. Because the effect of sports wagering in stadiums hasn’t been fully vetted or examined, I cannot support the bill in its current form and advocate the deletion of this stadium-betting provision.”
On Saturday, however, the governor releases a follow-up statement indicating that the dialogue is still moving ahead:
“I’ve spoken to Mayor Lightfoot about her concerns with regards to sports gambling, and we have collaboratively worked with the bill sponsors to make clear that the legislative purpose will reflect that there are limitations on both the number of and locations for sports betting venues. I’m pleased that we have attained this understanding…”
Mayor Lightfoot then drops her opposition via a different announcement:
“After successful discussions with the Governor, we have agreed to allow a limited quantity of betting at sports areas subject to local control and oversight. These enhancements to the gambling proposition will allow us to maximize earnings capabilities of a new casino to the City of Chicago and guarantee a fantastic quality of life to our areas which may otherwise be impacted. Therefore, I recommend the passing of SB 690 as amended…”
Illinois House votes on sports gambling Following a break for committee meetings and caucuses, Rep Bob Rita documents a final amendment to the funding package. The sport gambling language looks mostly unchanged in a glance, though there are a lot of words to make it through. The bill is known as second reading about 6 p.m. local time and proceeded straight to third.
By there, it is evident that House lawmakers have reached a agreement to pass a number of big bills — including this one — before the end of the evening. The ground demonstration becomes something of a victory lap for Rita, with different members commending him for his wide efforts to shore up vertical infrastructure. In his closing, Rita thanks Rep. Mike Zalewski for his work.
The House votes 87-27 in favor of passing, sending the bill back to the room of origin for concurrence. The Senate matches Sunday at 3 p.m.
Friday: Last gasp for IL sports betting prospects
Friday was frantic at the state capitol, with a myriad of important issues to hammer out on the final day of the scheduled session. Lawmakers did make a dent in the pile of bills, but leaders were made to issue a bad-news bulletin extending the work week during Sunday.
Although sports gambling remains stagnant, a significant effort has surfaced.
Rep. Robert Rita grabbed the reins on Friday, borrowing in the framework of Rep. Mike Zalewski to cobble together a compromise bill. His effort ran out of daylight on the House floor, however, the bonus weekend of lawmaking means there’s still hope for sports gambling this season.
While there’s a momentum, failure to cast a vote on Friday makes the job a little bit taller. Any bills considered from here out there demand a 3/5ths supermajority to pass, a threshold that may just be out of reach.
Here’s a chronological timeline of this day’s events:
A brand new automobile for IL sports betting Lawmakers start the day behind closed doors, working to finalize the framework for IL sports gambling. Most assume S 516 will serve as the vehicle, a Chicago casino invoice that appears to be an appropriate target for the empowering language. A midday curveball, however, shifts the attention.
Joe Ostrowski is a Chicago radio anchor who’s had his ear to the ground this week, and he’s the first to reveal that everybody is looking in the wrong location.
Joe Ostrowski
???
@JoeO670
Some optimism in Springfield for sport betting.
SB 690 should shed very soon.
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7:22 PM – May 31, 2019
Twitter Ads information and privacy See Joe Ostrowski’s additional Tweets
The invoice he references (S 690) is not a gaming bill, but a step amending tax provisions in the Invest in Kids Act. The current version has cleared the Senate and awaits a floor vote in the lower chamber. Unexpectedly, some anticipate House lawmakers to submit a new amendment related to sports gambling.
Sure enough, a placeholder pops upon the docket, using a hearing in the House Executive committee scheduled for 1:30 p.m. local time. A change of host to Sen. Terry Link provides another sign that something is about to happen.
LSR sources suggest that there’s excellent reason to track the conversation all the way up until the past gavel.
Senate Appropriations committee hearing
Sen. Link presents the amended bill to the committee, and… boy, is there a lot in it.
Along with the gaming provisions, it also rolls taxes for smokes, parking, video lottery terminals, and a number of different mechanisms to boost state revenue. The overall fiscal impact is close to $1 billion, together with sport gambling representing just a very small component of the package.
It is the fastest of hearings, over in under five minutes. 1 member asks whether the bill increases the amount of slot machines for each casino licensee — it will — and that is about it.
House Executive committee hearing
A heated floor debate on a marijuana bill (which ultimately passed) delays the House hearing by several hours.
After the committee finally convenes, Rep. Mike Zalewski is a surprise addition to the dais at the front of the room. Even though the long-suffering proponent of IL sports gambling recently stepped back from the spotlight, Rita’s bill lists him as the primary House sponsor. The committee substitutes Zalewski in as a temporary member to cast a vote in favor of passage.
Without much lead time, the amendment brings 34 proponents and nine opponents (which later grows to 18). Casino groups such as Boyd Gaming, Penn National Gaming, and the Illinois Casino Association remain in relation to the Last language.
Members of the committee have loads of questions, but the bulk of the conversation centers around gaming provisions not related to sports betting. Rita struggles to explain some of the finer points in detail, particularly as they relate to DraftKings and FanDuel. It is complex.
The language allows online platforms, but online-only companies can’t seek licensure for the initial 18 months of IL sports betting. The host indicates he built his bill that way to”provide Illinois companies a ramp” to the new sector. Rita also notes that his amendment will not impact the present status quo for DFS.
The committee advocates adoption of this change with an 8-5 vote, progressing the bill to the ground. There’s still a great deal of work left to do prior to adjournment, equally on sports betting and on a number of critical issues — including the state budget.
Previously, in Illinois sports betting…
This year’s attempt to legalize sports gambling follows in the footsteps of the unsuccessful 2018 effort.
As it did last year, work started early in 2019. Lawmakers cobbled together a variety of potential frameworks, each catering to a particular set of stakeholders. Yet again, though, nothing widely palatable had emerged as the past few hours of session ticked off the clock.
The proposed budget from Gov. J.B. Pritzker includes $217 million in revenue from sports gambling, so there’s more at stake than just the liberty to wager. Failure would induce Illinois to observe from the sidelines while its neighbors at Indiana and Iowa activate their new laws.
Who will participate?
The notion of the”penalty box” is your biggest barrier to some passing right now.
To make a long story short, some casino groups are working to keep DraftKings Sportsbook and FanDuel Sportsbook out of the Illinois market. They assert that daily fantasy sports isn’t explicitly lawful in the state, and these so-called bad actors should be excluded from licensure for 3 years. The actual motivation is, clearly, that a desire to eliminate competition from both businesses running away with all the New Jersey sports betting market.
DraftKings responded by temporarily running a television campaign pushing back on the barrier from Rush Street Gaming.
How much does it cost?
The sport leagues also have gained more leverage with Illinois lawmakers than they have elsewhere in the nation.
Most previous proposals for IL sports gambling required payment of a ethics fee and using official league data to repay”Tier 2″ wagers. No US sports betting law comprises a ethics fee, and Tennessee is the only one with a data mandate.
Coupled with licensing fees topping out at $25 million and taxes amounting to 20 percent of earnings, these operational burdens may stand between the bill and the finish line.
Who’s in charge?
Rep. Mike Zalewski carried the baton all spring, however, a lack of advancement and a perceived conflict of interest forced him to step aside in the 11th hour.
Start-of-day intel indicates that Rep. Bob Rita is actively working to material the enabling language into the wider gambling package before lawmakers head home for the year. In what could be seen as a reassuring sign, Senate Republican Leader Sen. Dave Syverson has signed on as a co-sponsor.
There’s no warranty that bill moves, though, and it may not contain sports betting provisions even when it really does.
Matt Kredell contributed to this story.

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