Illinois Considers Four Sports Betting Amendments

The House Rules Committee of Illinois will run the rule over four different amendments to a bill that would regulate sports betting in this state. That way, the Illinois lawmakers will have the choice to pick from four separate regulatory frameworks and turn them into one unified bill.

Those amendments will then be transformed into a House Bill 3308, that was actually filed back on February 15 of this year by state representative, Michael Zalewski.

After being introduced, the bill was then referred to the House Rules, Revenue, and Finance Committees. But, since this bill doesn’t have any detail on how the sports betting would be regulated in this state, the rules had to be written.

So, Representative Zalewski and three other reps proposed four amendments…

…so they will eventually determine which regulatory model to pursue.

Three of these four amendments have the same option and that is to include a fee of $10 million that each operator would have to pay to gain a license to offer their services in this state.

In the fourth amendment, there is an idea to give the state lottery the task to be in charge of all sports betting services in Illinois.

The First Amendment

Also locally known as the “Classical New Jersey” option, the first amendment introduced by Zalewski…

…would grant licenses for all riverboats and in accordance with the Horse Racing Act from 1975.

Operators that obtain their licenses will get permission to offer land-based, online and mobile wagering to Illinois customers. Aside from paying the $10 million fee, operators would have to pay an additional $250,000 every five years in order to renew their fee.

When it comes to taxes, it is proposed in this amendment to impose a 15% tax on land-based revenue, while online and mobile revenue would be taxed at 20%. Also, it is planned to give the Illinois Gaming Board the responsibility to regulate the market.

The Second Amendment

This amendment, that is being referred to as a Mississippi Model, was introduced by Representative, Katie Stewart. It would allow land-based and online betting at licensed off-the-board (OTB), racetracks and casinos in this state.

Also, this amendment would permit only 10 online operators to operate in this state…

…but there is also an idea to limit them solely to casino properties. The cost of the licenses would again be $10 million, but the renewal fee would be $500,000 every five years.

The operators would also have to pay $250,000 in management services fees, as well as $100.000 in supplier costs. They will be taxed at 15% and the Illinois Gaming Board would be in charge of regulating the market.

The Third Amendment

Also known as the “Professional Sports Leagues” amendment, this option was submitted by Representative, Andre Thapedi. It would also allow land-based, online and mobile sports betting, and operators would have to pay $10 million to obtain their licenses.

The tax for licensed operators would be around 12.5% on annual gross revenue, while they would also have to pay 0.25% of their handle to the state gaming board.

The Fourth Amendment

This amendment, introduced by Elizabeth Hernandez and locally named “Lottery Oversight”…

…proposes the state Department of Lottery to be in charge of all gambling activities.

Sports betting would be, for that matter, limited to land-based activities only, while the state would get 50% of the gross revenue for tax purposes.

All four amendments are waiting for further discussion, and then it will progress to the Revenue and Finance Committee. The Illinois legislative session will run until May 31, 2019.

Source:

“Illinois to consider four sports betting amendments”, igamingbusiness.com, March 22, 2019.