Illinois Lawmakers Vote To Approve Sports Betting On Last Day Of Session

Illinois is 1 step away from legal sports betting after a last-ditch campaign from Rep. Bob Rita fell into place this weekend.
House lawmakers voted to approve a broad expansion of gambling within a funding funding bill on Saturday, and the Senate followed suit on Sunday. Gaming provisions within the act include a long-awaited casino in Chicago and consent for both retail and online sports gambling.
The bill goes to the desk of Gov. J.B. Pritzker, whose current comments make it clear he’ll sign it into law. The governor helped shepherd IL sports betting across the end line, seeking to drive over $200 million in additional earnings to his state.
Passage was, honestly, a remarkable accomplishment considering the absence of progress through the first five weeks of the year. Previous hints 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 continues to be keeping a close watch on the chatter this weekend and upgrading this webpage as the situation unfolded. Here’s the play-by-play:
Is Sunday the day for Illinois sports betting?
The Senate eventually takes the ground after 4 p.m. local time. It does not take long.
Sen. Terry Link presents the conditions of the amended bill, which includes a complete projected fiscal effect of $12 billion. Commendations and positive comments from Sen. Dave Syverson, the Senate Minority Leader, appear to signal that passage is a certainty.
Opinions are brief and largely surface-level, using a couple lawmakers lugging around in narrow provisions which affect their constituents. Sen. John Curran is the only person who speaks to sports betting at any length, seeking clarification on the branding provisions for internet platforms.
Link is emotional as he shuts the event, reflecting on his 20-year effort to improve economic development from manufacturing.
The chamber 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 Senate.
IL sports gambling bill as amended
Here is the full text of this language:
What’s in the change?
The new vertical funding bill includes a multi-level gaming package headlined by a mega-casino at Chicago. The measure also has six categories of licensure for IL sports gambling:
Master sports wagering
Occupational
Supplier
Management services provider Tier two official league info supplier Central system supplier In plain terms, these classes allow casinos, race tracks, and sports venues to offer sports betting — equally in-person and on the internet. The terms that concern online betting, however, require in-person enrollment for the initial 18 months.
The amendment also authorizes a lottery implementation encompassing 2,500 locations in the very first year.
IL sports gambling details
The commission for a master sports betting license is calculated based on gross gaming revenue from the last calendar year. Casinos will pay 5 percent of that number to offer sports gambling for four yearsup to a max of $10 million. That cap wasn’t present in recent models and should ease the burden on big operators like Rush Street Gaming. Rita also softened the projected tax rate down to 15% of earnings.
As you can infer from the classes, language mandating using official league data for props and in-play gambling stuck. Even though there’s no ethics fee, the bill does empower schools and sports leagues to restrict the kinds of accessible wagers. As composed, weatherproof collegiate sports are off the plank in Illinois.
The change removes the total blackout period for online gambling that snuck into a previous version, but it will retain a modified penalty box for DraftKings and FanDuel. Daily fantasy sports businesses will be allowed to compete at the sports betting arena, but just master licensees can offer online wagering for the initial 18 months.
The amendment also creates three online-only permits costing $20 million apiece, awarded on a delay by means of a competitive process.
Saturday: Agreement reached for IL sports betting About three hours into the weekend session, we are still in a holding pattern. House lawmakers have ticked several more items off their to-do record now, such as a bill that raises the minimum wages for Illinois teachers. For now, though, there’s nothing new to report on sports betting.
Aside from the things we’re already touched on, a few other challenges have cropped up.
Perhaps most notably, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot publicly opposes the bill as written. Her principal concern is the provision permitting sportsbooks inside of stadiums and arenas.
Mayoral opposition leads to’comprehension’
Here’s the announcement from Mayor Lightfoot, as mentioned by Capitol Fax:
“I strongly support a gaming bill that sends a new casino and dollars to the town of Chicago. However, I oppose the addition of a provision that would open sports wagering in venues like Soldier Field. This type of proposal has the capacity to undermine the viability of any Chicago-based casino through the recreation of consumers and revenue from a casino. Since the effect of sports wagering in stadiums hasn’t been completely assessed or analyzed, I can’t support the bill in its current form and urge the deletion of the stadium-betting provision”
On Saturday, but the government releases a follow-up announcement indicating that the dialogue is still moving forward:
“I have spoken to Mayor Lightfoot about her issues with respect to sports gambling, and we’ve collaboratively worked with the bill sponsors to make clear that the legislative intent will reflect that there are limits on both the amount of and places for sports betting venues. I am happy that we’ve attained this understanding…”
Mayor Lightfoot then drops her resistance via a different announcement:
“After successful talks with the Governor, we’ve agreed to permit a limited amount of betting at sports areas subject to local oversight and control. These improvements to the gambling proposition will allow us to maximize revenue capabilities of a new casino for the City of Chicago and guarantee a good quality of life to our areas that might otherwise be affected. As such, I urge the passing of SB 690 as amended…”
Illinois House votes yes on sports betting Following a break for committee meetings and caucuses, Rep Bob Rita files a last amendment to the financing package. The sport betting language looks mostly unchanged in a glimpse, though there are a great deal of words to get through. The bill is called for second reading around 6 p.m. local time and moved straight to third.
By that point, it’s apparent that House lawmakers have reached a agreement to pass quite a few large bills — including this one — before the end of the evening. The ground presentation 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 job.
The House votes 87-27 in favor of passage, sending the bill back into the room of origin for concurrence. The Senate meets Sunday at 3 p.m.
Friday: Last gasp for IL sports gambling prospects
Friday was frantic at the state capitol, with an assortment of important issues to hammer on the final day of the scheduled session. Lawmakers did create a dent in the pile of bills, but leaders were forced to issue a bad-news bulletin extending the work week through Sunday.
Although sports betting remains unresolved, a substantial effort has surfaced.
Rep. Robert Rita captured 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 is still hope for sports betting this season.
Even though there’s some momentum, failure to cast a vote on Friday makes the task a little bit taller. Any bills considered from here on out require a 3/5ths supermajority to pass, a threshold which may simply be out of reach.
Here’s a chronological timeline of the day’s events:
A brand new automobile for IL sports betting Lawmakers begin the day behind closed doors, working to finalize the framework for IL sports betting. Most assume S 516 will function as the vehicle, a Chicago casino invoice that appears to be a suitable target for the enabling language. A midday curveball, however, shifts the attention.
Joe Ostrowski is a Chicago radio anchor who has had his ear to the floor this week, and he is the first to reveal that everybody is looking in the wrong location.
Joe Ostrowski
???
@JoeO670
Some optimism in Springfield for sports betting.
SB 690 should shed very soon.
41
7:22 PM – May 31, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy Watch Joe Ostrowski’s other Tweets
The bill he cites (S 690) isn’t a gaming bill, but a measure amending tax provisions at the Invest in Kids Act. The current version has cleared the Senate and awaits a floor vote at the lower chamber. Suddenly, some expect House lawmakers to file a new amendment linked to sports gambling.
Sure enough, a placeholder pops upon the docket, with a hearing at the House Executive committee scheduled for 1:30 p.m. local time. A change of sponsor to Sen. Terry Link provides another indication that something is about to happen.
LSR sources suggest that there’s good reason to track the dialogue all the way up until the last 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 cigarettes, parking, video lottery terminals, and numerous different mechanisms to increase state revenue. The overall fiscal impact is close to $1 billion, with sports betting representing just a very small component of the package.
It is the fastest of hearings, over in under five minutes. One member asks whether or not the bill raises the amount of slot machines for every 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 many hours.
After the committee finally convenes, Rep. Mike Zalewski is a surprise addition to the dais at the front of the room. Although the long-suffering proponent of IL sports gambling recently stepped back in the spotlight, Rita’s bill lists him as the first House sponsor. The committee substitutes Zalewski in as a temporary member to cast a vote in favour of passage.
Without much lead time, the amendment attracts 34 proponents and nine opponents (which grows to 18). Casino groups such as Boyd Gaming, Penn National Gaming, and also the Illinois Casino Association remain in relation to the final language.
Members of the committee have loads of questions, however, the majority of the conversation centers around gambling provisions not related to sports betting. Rita struggles to describe some of the finer points in detail, especially as they relate to DraftKings and FanDuel. It is complicated.
The language allows online platforms, but online-only firms can not find licensure for the first 18 months of IL sports gambling. The host suggests he constructed his bill that way to”give Illinois businesses a ramp” into the new sector. Rita also notes that his change won’t impact the existing status quo for DFS.
The committee advocates adoption of this change with an 8-5 vote, advancing the bill to the ground. There is still a lot of work left to do prior to adjournment, both on sports gambling and on a number of pivotal issues — including the state budget.
Formerly, in Illinois sports gambling…
This year’s attempt to legalize sports betting follows in the footsteps of this failed 2018 effort.
As it did this past year, work began early in 2019. Lawmakers cobbled together a variety of possible frameworks, each catering to a particular set of stakeholders. Once more, however, nothing broadly palatable had emerged as the past couple of 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 is more at stake than just the freedom to wager. Failure would force Illinois to observe from the sidelines while its neighbors at Indiana and Iowa trigger their new legislation.
Who can participate?
The notion of this”penalty box” is your biggest barrier to some passing right now.
To make a long story short, a few casino groups are working to maintain DraftKings Sportsbook and FanDuel Sportsbook out of the Illinois market. They argue that daily fantasy sports is not explicitly lawful in the country, and these so-called awful actors ought to be deducted from licensure for 3 years. The real motivation is, clearly, a desire to get rid of competition in both companies working away with the New Jersey sports gambling market.
DraftKings responded by temporarily running a tv campaign pushing back on the barrier from Rush Street Gaming.
How much does it cost?
The sports leagues have also gained greater leverage with Illinois lawmakers than they have elsewhere in the nation.
Most previous tips for IL sports gambling required payment of a ethics fee and the use of official league data to settle”Tier 2″ wagers. No US sports betting legislation includes an integrity fee, and Tennessee is the only one with an info mandate.
Coupled with licensing prices payable out at $25 million and taxation amounting to 20% of earnings, these operational burdens can stand between the bill and the finish line.
Who is in charge?
Rep. Mike Zalewski carried the baton all spring, however, a lack of progress and a perceived conflict of interest forced him to step aside in the 11th hour.
Start-of-day intel suggests that Rep. Bob Rita is actively working to material the enabling language into the broader gambling package before lawmakers head home for the year. In what could be regarded as an encouraging sign, Senate Republican Leader Sen. Dave Syverson has signed as a co-sponsor.
There is no warranty that bill passes, however, and it may not include sports gambling provisions even if it does.
Matt Kredell contributed to this story.

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