In Illinois, a recent Paul Simon Public Policy Institute poll indicated 63 percent of Illinoisans support legalizing sports betting, and 57 percent favor gambling expansion in general, such as authorizing more casinos. Governor J.B. Pritzker also supports legalizing sports betting, noting 20 establishments paying $10 million for a licensing fee could generate $200 million for the 2020 fiscal year.
Brian Zander, president of Fairmount Park horseracing track in East. St. Louis, Illinois, said, “Sports betting is certainly a very exciting prospect for us. The way we look at it is, there are three tracks that are left in the state of Illinois—this is our 94th year and Hawthorne and Arlington are close to 100 years—that have taken a legal wager on the outcome of a sporting event. So we think we’re well-positioned to do it. We think our fans definitely like it, and it definitely presents an opportunity for the horsemen and for us to prosper from a new line of business.”
Zander added, “Sports betting represents a new opportunity for all those involved, be it casinos and racetracks, brick and mortar. And a mobile platform. All those have yet to be determined but as opposed to fighting the casinos on any kind of expansion, this will be something where I believe we could certainly work with them and it could actually turn out to be very well for both.”
Tom Swoik, executive director of the Illinois Casino Gaming Association, representing nine of the state’s 10 casinos, including the Casino Queen in East St. Louis and Argosy Casino in Alton, said, “We don’t have any problems with racetracks having sports betting, as long we do, too. I think that would be the compromise.”
But casinos do have problems with the state’s racetracks also wanting slots and video gaming terminals, besides sports betting. Casino revenue has dropped since video gambling was allowed in fraternal organizations, truck stops and gaming parlors.
“We’ve been opposed to any large expansion as far as casinos go or slots at tracks, especially now that we have over 30,000 video gaming terminals now in the state. Basically we’re saturated, and all that’s going to happen is that by adding additional casinos, or slots at race tracks, you’re going to cannibalize revenues from one source and put them in another source. This also affects the state, we believe, because the more we make the more taxes we pay. You see the amount being wagered in a particular place and moved to another place, they’re both going to be paying lower tax rates,” Swoik said.
State Rep. Katie Stuart, whose district includes Fairmount Park, recently reintroduced legislation allowing racetracks to have 150 video gaming terminals each. The tracks would receive half the earnings for purse accounts to help attract more racers.
“Fairmount Park is a vital source of both jobs and entertainment in the Metro East. Hundreds of employees count on Fairmount Park for their livelihood, and rather than talking about shutting down the track, we need to be considering ways to help them grow and expand the number of live racing days,” Stuart said.
Jeff Morris, vice president of public affairs for Penn National Gaming, owner of three Illinois casinos, including Argosy, commented he doesn’t expect sports betting to be a significant revenue generator for casinos in Illinois.
“We have to pay federal tax, state tax, we have marketing costs, labor costs, data costs, etc.,” he said. “At the end of the day it’s really a very small number. It only accounts for 1 percent to 2 percent of revenue at our properties. What it does do, it gives us an opportunity to draw in additional customers to come visit the casino. We have seen an increase in food and beverage and hotel stays at some of our other states. Frankly, it’s an amenity rather than anything else. It’s just another type of gaming for our customers to enjoy.”
That may not happen, however if an amendment suggested by the bill’s sponsor is included.
Illinois state Rep. Bob Rita has introduced an amendment to sports betting legislation that would limit sports books to the state’s 10 brick-and-mortar riverboat casinos.
The amendment reportedly was brought to Rita by a representative of Rivers Casino in Des Plaines. It is the fifth amendment to an overall sports gaming bill introduced recently by state Rep. Mike Zalewski, and will likely not be the last.
Two weeks ago, the state House Revenue & Finance Committee heard testimony from a number of potential stakeholders in the new sports betting business. Lawmakers were debating several plans to establish responsibility to run sports betting, including one plan that would operate sports books under the Illinois Lottery, with wagering at as many as 10,000 lottery retailer locations throughout the state.
